Shatter Down My Walls
by msmelanieelysa
Summary: <html><head></head>Rachel's friends think that a change of scenery is what she needs after her fiancé breaks up with her. They all want to see her happy again, moving with her to Los Angeles. Heartbroken, Finn has sworn off women completely. What will happen when Rachel and her friends move into the mansion next door to Finn? Can Rachel and Finn mend each others hearts?</html>
1. Chapter 1

**Shatter Down My Walls**

**A/N: This is my first fanfic ever. Finchel will always be my OTP. This story is totally AU. There will be some drama, so be prepared for it. I will promise that Finn will always have a happy ending and this story will be complete. Special shout outs to AllieLoveFinchel and Firewifesara for giving me the courage to do this. This story is in honor of Cory Monteith because together we will allow him to live through our stories. Reviews will be loved. Rated M for some citrus! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Glee, because if I did Season 3 would have ended way different, characters or any songs that I may add in. All of the flashbacks will be in italics. All I own are the errors!**

_Rachel:_

"_Wait, what are you saying?" Rachel sobs "You are ending our engagement because you are in love with my costar Roger?" Not believing what Brody is saying to her. "And you decided this two weeks before our wedding date? How long has this been going on?" _

_Brody just shrugged his shoulders "I realized that I had feelings for him a couple of months ago, but, I didn't act on them until a few weeks ago. I guess that I prefer his plumbing over yours, Rachel." _

_Rachel had never been more relieved that her run as Maria in West Side Story was over; she didn't think that she would be able to perform with her "Tony" knowing that he had been performing with her now ex-fiancé._

_She just wanted to get as far away from Broadway and her heartbreak as she could right now. Her next endeavor planned was to record her first album but, it wasn't scheduled to start for two months since she had planned a month long honeymoon to Hawaii. After she walked around Time Square for hours she hailed a cab and headed to her brownstone which she shared with her cousin/manager Quinn Fabray. Quinn knew that something had happened as soon as Rachel walked through their front door. Her normally bubbly, happy go lucky cousin was sullen and obviously hurting tremendously. _

"_Rachel, babe what's the matter? Where have you been, I was expecting you home hours ago, I had assumed that you were with Brody. Did someone hurt you?"_

_At the sound of Brody's name Rachel turned into a blubbery mess "He…Called off the wed..ding." she sobbed as she collapsed to the floor "He left me for Roger. He said that he had loved him for months, Quinn, months" Her anger was now overcoming her sadness. "He knew for months that he wasn't going to marry me and he decides to wait two weeks before the date to break it off with me. Now I am going to look like a fool to my family and friends as I notify them that the wedding isn't happening; how did I not know that this was going on?" _

_Quinn walked over to Rachel and sat down in the floor beside her and wrapped her arms around her and told her that she would take care of it all for her. "Rachel, why don't you let me run you a nice relaxing bath and order us something for us to eat?" as she is feverishly texting Blaine and Santana telling them to get to their house as soon as possible for a Rachel Berry meltdown. _

_As Rachel walked back into the living room she felt 3 sets of arms wrapping around her, knowing that Quinn had filled her friends in on what had happened so she wouldn't have to explain it again. Santana was mumbling something about going all Bronx on Brody's ass as Blaine and Quinn was having a silent conversation with their eyes. Blaine led Rachel into the dining room where her favorite Italian meal was waiting for her._

_Once the 'family' had been sitting in silence for a few minutes Quinn finally spoke up, "Rachel how do you feel about relocating?"_

_A very shocked Rachel looked at Quinn and asked what did she mean? "I don't understand how moving from our home would help me get over this." _

"_I don't mean moving to another home in New York City, sweetie I was thinking more like moving to the other coast. I mean Columbia has studios out there for you to record your album and you always said that you'd one day like to give Hollywood a shot." Quinn whispered. _

_While avoiding Rachel's eyes Blaine spoke up "We all think that it would be a perfect way to start over."_

"_And you know that you will have all three of us with you." Santana piped in. _

"_I can't ask you guys to up and move clear across the country just because I wasn't good enough to keep Brody." Rachel cried. _

_Quinn chirped in with simply saying "I am your manager, Tana is your fashion guru and you know that Blaine has been itching to sink his teeth into LA." _

"_You all would do that for me?" After all three heads nodded yes, Rachel just smiled and said that it looks like we need to find us a home in LA. Less than a month later, the family was moving into a 12 bedroom mansion in Coldwater Canyon._

_Finn_

"_I am not working for that jack ass any longer!" Finn growled "I'm tired of working 60 hours a week for that douche so he can get all the credit." _

"_Yeah dude, I feel you!" Puck says as he fights the downtown traffic trying to get out of the city and back to the comforts of his home in Coldwater Canyon. The two childhood friends had lucked out finding two homes in the gated community next to each other after they graduated from Stanford Law School. They have been together since day care, attending Lima Elementary School, George Washington Middle School, William McKinley High School, Ohio State University and Stanford. _

"_You know what we should do?" Finn asked in a much calmer tone "we should get Sam's ass out here and start our own practice." _

"_That sounds awesome and all but do you think the old ball and chain would want to move out here?" Puck Questioned._

"_Well it's not like Kitty couldn't find a school out here to work for, and she'd make a boatload more money, Sam would too. Hell between the three of us we could practice all aspects of the law, it would kind of be a dream of mine coming true." Finn shyly admits. _

"_All we need is the building and Sam, because you know that our clients would follow us, since they all already refuse to work with anyone else in the jack asses firm." Puck smirked. _

_As they were entering the gated community Finn noticed several moving vans and a few women and a man outside of the home next door to Finn's house. "Oh great, three chicks are moving into the glass mansion" Finn grumbles as Puck pulls into Finn's driveway right next to the said three chicks._

"_Hot damn, they are sexy, Finn especially that little blonde." Puck said with lust shining in his eyes._

"_I don't give a rat's ass if they are hot or not," Finn's voiced laced with anger, "I am not even going there!" _

_Finn when is the last time that you got laid? Damn Dude it has been six months since the Lucy nightmare!" Puck snorted, "Get over it, not all ladies are like her and you don't have to marry a chick to get some loving." _

"_Not happening dude, they can stay on their side of the fence and I will stay on mine." Finn said straight to the point. "I'm perfectly fine being by myself for the rest of my life, all women are evil in one way or another and I don't want any part of it"._

**Shall I continue? Let me know what you think! **


	2. Chapter 2

**Alright guys here is chapter 2 for Shatter Down My Walls. Special Thank you to AllieLoveFinchel and Firewifesara, I could not do this without their help. As always, this story is in honor of our favorite quarterback. Cory Monteith will always have a place in my heart.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Glee or the original characters. I will own characters in the future. I also do not own any music that may appear in this story. I hope that you all enjoy.**

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><p><strong>Introductions<strong>

As the guys are getting out of the car, the gorgeous blonde catches Puck's attention, "Hey there ladies, really happy to see someone is moving into the 'Glass Mansion'. I'm Puck by the way."

"Quinn," Quinn says as she flashes what Puck deems to be the most beautiful smile that he's ever seen. "My cousin, Rachel needed a change of scenery and we all decided to join her." Motioning to Santana and Blaine to come meet their new neighbors. "This is Rachel's personal assistant, Santana Lopez and this here is our 'stabilizer', Blaine Anderson."

By this time, Rachel joins the group as Puck turns to look across the car at Finn, "This is your actual neighbor, Finn Hudson. He lives here with his brother, Kurt. I lucked out and was able to purchase the place right next door."

"You're Rachel Berry," Finn simply says, shocking everyone because he just doesn't look like the Broadway type of guy.

"Yes. Yes I am, how do you even know that?" wondering if she has moved across the country just to move in beside a stalker.

Chuckling at the expression on her face, he tells her that his brother, Kurt had forced him to go see his 'fabulous works of art' in West Side Story the last time that they were in New York. "Kurt will be thrilled to find out that THE Rachel Berry is our new neighbor."

"Well I really enjoy wearing Kurt Hummel Designs," with a laugh she says, "I'd love to meet the master, is he home?"

After Finn explains to her that Kurt is in Paris, the neighbors part ways. As they walk up to Finn's front door he can't help but think, just great, three chicks living next door and judging by the look on Puck's face and knowing the obsession that Kurt has over Rachel Berry he has a feeling that he will be seeing way too much of their new neighbors. "Dear grilled cheesus, what did I do to deserve this?" he quietly mumbles to himself as he unarms the front door.

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><p><strong>Are you guys still interested? Let me know! <strong>


	3. Mission to Tearing Down Walls

**AN: Okay guys, this is the last chapter before all the fun begins. I'm sorry that the last chapter was lacking in words. I felt that it was important to showcase the immediate affects that each group has on the other. But trust me when I say that once the characters are officially "introduced" to their counterparts, there will be no details spared. As always I owe everything to Allie and Sara and a huge thanks to Erica for reminding me that I am sane. Without their encouragement this story would have never seen these pages. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the errors and a few characters that will be introduced throughout the story. Glee unfortunately belongs to RIB and any song that I may choose to use in this story belongs to the amazing artists who poured their hearts into them. With all of this said, let's move on to the next chapter, shall we?**

Mission to Tear Down the Walls

It has been a month since the gang had moved to Coldwater Canyon and between getting the house set up and spending ten to twelve hours a day in the studio, Rachel hasn't seen anyone that doesn't live in her house except for her producer, Artie. Home alone, she decides the best way to spend the day is to relax out beside the pool. She is so happy that her friends have adapted to the Los Angeles lifestyle so well. Quinn is currently in a meeting finalizing Rachel's contract for a new romance comedy, "Full Moon" which will start production in two months. Santana is out shopping declaring that Rachel needs a new Los Angeles makeover, while Blaine is filming for his new TV show "Happy High" which he auditioned for the week after they moved to Los Angeles.

Rachel has been resting on her chaise for about an hour reflecting on her life when she is startled by a loud shriek. "Oh my Prada, they were telling the truth, Rachel Berry is indeed my new neighbor."

Rachel raises up from her chaise and walks over to the low fence that separates the properties with the biggest smile that she can muster, "Kurt Hummel, I presume?" as she reaches her hand over the fence to shake his hand.

"Please call me Kurt and I apologize that you had to meet the cavemen before you met me, I'm so glad that they didn't run you off."

"Of course not, Puck seems very friendly, your brother hardly spoke except to say that he knows who I am from West Side Story," shrugging her shoulders, "he seems less than thrilled to have new neighbors."

The fact that Finn remembers Rachel from when they went to see West Side Story shocks Kurt, "Finn hasn't always been like that, he was hurt real bad by a woman; so unfortunately the only life he cares about now is his work." Rachel can't help but the think she knows just how Finn feels. "Enough about my grumpy brother, I hear that we are going to be working together on "Full Moon" in a couple of months. I was so excited to learn that I would be dressing a real woman with curves instead of a stick figure!" Kurt says interrupting her thoughts of self pity.

Rachel smiles at Kurt and is getting ready to tell him how excited she was that he's going to be supplying her wardrobe when she is interrupted by Blaine coming out of the house.

"Rachel?" Blaine hollers from the terrace doors as he walks down the stairs.

"Oh my, who is that, and please tell me that he is single and swings my way?" Kurt sputters.

Giggling at the look on Kurt's face Rachel says, "That is Blaine Anderson, one of my room mates." Looking over to Blaine, "Hey Blaine, come meet our other neighbor, Kurt." Not missing the looks that they're giving each other, Rachel turns to walk back to her chaise when Kurt spoke up "I know that it's only two weeks away, but I would love to invite you and your friends to our Independence Day Extravaganza, it is the party of the summer and I will not take no for an answer", he adds while not so subtly staring at Blaine.

Rachel laughs nervously "Well since you said that you won't take no for an answer, is there anything that we can bring?"

"Absolutely not, just be sure to bring your bathing suits for our water volleyball battle and be prepared to be here way into the night. Our parties usually end at sunrise; I'll see you all around noon on the fourth, tootles," Kurt says as he walks away, already deciding that Rachel Berry is perfect for Finn. "She is the one who can mend his heart and I, Kurt Elizabeth Hummel will make it happen" he whispers to himself.

Blaine turns and looks at Rachel and says, "Well, he is just a bubble of joy, isn't he?" with a dumbstruck smile on his face, he adds sincerely, "I really am going to enjoy living here."

"Moving out here is exactly what I needed, we found the perfect home," pointing over at her neighbors' backyard, "and the perfect neighbors, it seems." Rachel says with a smile on her face.

"And the best part, no Brody in sight!" Blaine adds as he wraps his arm around his best friends shoulder, walking back to their backyard.

A/N: So tell me what y'all think? Next up the 'Party of the summer' and you will be seeing more familiar faces.


	4. Time To Mingle

**AN: Are y'all ready for the party? Once again a huge thank you to Allie and Sara! Here we go, things are about to get interesting.**

**Disclaimer: Nope, I still don't own Glee, original characters or songs that may appear in this story; I do however own all of my errors and a few characters that will be showing their face eventually. **

**Here we go!**

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><p><strong>Time to Mingle<strong>

Finn and Puck are sitting on the wrap around deck, sipping beer as Kurt is making sure that the decorators are placing each candle, flower, lantern and palm tree exactly where he wants them.

"I can't figure out why in the hell Kurt had sand shipped in, I will never get all of it out of my backyard." Finn grumbles to Puck.

"Dude lighten up, you are the one who signed all of the checks for all of this crap!"

"I write the checks because Kurt is far more stubborn than the sand," Finn smirks and continues, "Do you realize that this time last year I had just been told that I was going to be a father?"

"Finn, just be happy that the truth came out before you actually said I do." Puck said sympathetically as he looks at the hurt look on his best friend's face.

"You just don't understand Puck that was the happiest time in my adult life, a feeling that Lucy just jerked out from under me the night before we were supposed to get married." Finn said as tears threatens to fall from his eyes, "I ask myself every damn day if she would have just kept pretending that the baby was mine if Edward hadn't came to me and told me that the baby was his." Finn continues, "I will never understand why they did that to me, I remember thinking how I would have a baby this year at this party."

"I know that you are hurting Finn, but you didn't do anything wrong." Puck said "Hell, you gave that girl anything that she could ever want!" he sighs heavily before he continues "Listen to me Finn, there is a woman out there for you but she won't fall in your lap or magically appear outside of your office door."

"I don't know if I'm ready to attempt to date again, how do I learn how to trust again?" Finn asks seriously.

"First thing first, you need to get out of your shell and speak to women, and you can't go into it expecting them to hurt you like she did." Puck adds sincerely," You deserve someone who will treat you like the damn sun sets in your ass!" Puck adds as he takes a sip from his beer, "Now enough of this girly talk, I feel like I'm going to grow a vagina if this conversation continues."

"Alright Finn, it is time for you to get dressed before our guest get here, shoo!" Kurt said as he walks onto the deck.

"What the hell is wrong with what I have on?" Finn huffs "It's a fucking backyard party not a gala at the Ritz-Carlton!"

"Finn you simply can not greet our guest dressed in a ragged tee shirt and board shorts, I have already planned your outfit and it's laying on your bed ready for you to put on after you shower; now go." Kurt said with that 'don't mess with me look' that Finn has learned through the years means that he isn't going to win this argument.

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><p>Meanwhile next door:<p>

"Rachel, Kurt told us not to bring anything but our swimming suits," Blaine huffs as he looks at all of the dishes that Rachel had prepared, "Remember this isn't an Ocean City backyard barbeque, Hell I bet it's being catered."

"Well, since you won't let me decline the invitation, I refuse to show up empty handed!" Rachel said as she adds another dish on the table.

Quinn enters the kitchen, eyes wide open as she see the mess that Rachel has left in her path, "Rachel, I believe this is enough." Looking at Rachel, "You need to get in the shower and get ready so we aren't late; we all know that Rachel Berry doesn't like to arrive anywhere late."

"Well, it's just rude to keep the host waiting!" Rachel huffs, "I'm going right now to get ready."

"I laid out the perfect outfit in your dressing room for you to wear, and I have already packed you a couple of bathing suits to change into." Santana said as she joins her friends in the kitchen, surveying the disaster zone left in Rachel's wake; "I'll get all of this mess cleaned up and the dishes in the dish washer."

"Why do we not have a maid again?" Blaine mumbles as he starts putting the dirty pans in the dishwasher.

"Because four adults live in this house and we are more than capable of cleaning up after ourselves!" Rachel replies as she storms out of the kitchen.

"Finally, I didn't think that she would ever leave, now everyone knows what their job is today, right?" Quinn whispers to ensure that Rachel doesn't hear their conversation.

"Yes, Operation Berry-Hudson is a go and Kurt, Puck and Sam all know their duties!" Blaine smirks.

"So when are you going to let us in on the midnight meetings between you and Kurt?" Santana asks with a wink.

Blushing Blaine shyly says that all that he and Kurt have been discussing is how to help mend Rachel's and Finn's hearts.

"Sure!" both Santana and Quinn exclaims with a laugh.

About a half an hour later Rachel enters the kitchen and nearly screams through gritted teeth, "Santana, why in the hell do you think a baby doll dress is a good idea for a backyard party?" Gritting her teeth, "I was planning on just wearing a nice pair of shorts and shirt, you know for comfort!"

"Rachel, chill out you look amazing" Quinn defends Santana's decision as she looks at her cousin in the red, white and blue baby doll dress with white wedges on her feet.

"Alright, my ladies it's time for us to head on over to Finn's." Blaine says bouncing in the room, acting like a five years old getting ready to go to Disney World.

* * *

><p>"Kurt, why in the hell do I look like I'm in a Hollister commercial?" Finn asks as he opens the sliding patio door and glancing at the table that is now set on the deck, "Are those place cards on the table?"<p>

"Finn, you look like you're getting ready to entertain your guest, and yes those are place cards." Kurt answers, "Just because this is an outdoor party doesn't mean that it shouldn't be classy."

"Usually we have tables scattered everywhere, why is there only one table set up?" Finn asks as he turns to look at Kurt for an answer, "there were about one hundred people at our last party; I don't think that many people will fit at one table!"

"Well, I figured that this could be a more intimate affair so we could get to know our neighbors better", Kurt shrugs.

"Why do I feel like I'm going to regret allowing you to have this party?" Finn mumbles as he turns and walks back into the house.

Kurt glances at his watch and looks at Puck, "Our guests should be arriving any minute; you know what to do, right?"

A smirking Puck replies, "Aside of getting to know Quinn at lot better; I will make Finn see the light known as Rachel Berry; yeah I got it."

* * *

><p>"Helllooo?" Blaine sings as he walks into the backyard, "Kurt, we are here!"<p>

"Hi there" he breathes, "and goodness what is all of this?" he asks counting at least eight dishes spread out among his neighbors' arms. "Puck, Finn come help!"

"Rachel insisted that we not come without bringing some of her fabulous treats!" Quinn said as she hands the dishes she is carrying to Puck.

"Wow, everything looks amazing!" Puck said as he stares into Quinn's eyes.

"Here, let me grab those for you." Finn tells Rachel as he reaches to grab the trays that she's carrying, as his hand brushes against hers he is startled by the shock that he feels running through his body.

"Why thank you, Finn" lost in the warm feeling that she suddenly feels rushing through her body, as she looks up into his eyes "You are very chivalrous."

This moment didn't go unnoticed by the five sets of eyes that are looking at them. As Kurt takes the trays from Santana, he leans into her and whispers "This may be easier than we thought."

Once Sam and Kitty arrives and introductions made, Kurt instructs Puck and Sam to hang the volleyball net over the pool as he turns to their guest and directs them toward the pool house and bathrooms inside of the house where they all can change into their bathing suits. "Nothing like a friendly game of water volleyball to get to know each other, right?" he asks as he winks at Blaine.

Rachel starts to protest as Quinn pipes in as she takes her by the arm heading toward the house, "Come on Rachel, it'll be fun."

"Who are you and what did you do with my prissy cousin?" Rachel whispers as she lets Quinn lead her in to the house.

"Hey, Brittney, I didn't know if you'd be able to make it this year, I thought that you went back home for Mike and Tina's wedding." Finn says after finally taken his eyes off of the retreating form of Rachel; shaking his head wondering why in the fuck he couldn't keep his eyes off of her.

"I flew back in this morning; I wasn't going to miss this party for anything!"

Walking toward Santana, Brittney sticks out her hand, "I'm Brittney, and you are beautiful!"

Mesmerized by the beautiful blonde and undressing her with her eyes, "Santana, very pleased to meet you."

"Britt, we are getting ready for some water volleyball, did you bring your swimsuit?" Kurt asks, amused by the way the Latina and blonde are staring at each other, thinking to himself that this volleyball game could very easily turn into an orgy with all of the lust in the air.

All of the guys except for Kurt were standing around the pool waiting on the ladies and Kurt to come out. "Damn, how long does it take to change into a swimsuit?" Finn grumbles, "My only plan for today was to sit on my ass and swig back a couple of Coronas."

About that time, Rachel and Quinn came out of the sliding glass doors, "Fuck!" Puck chokes, "I'm getting in the pool now before I embarrass myself."

As Finn looks up and sees Rachel in her itsy bitsy red, white and blue bikini "God bless America, I think that I'll join you." unable to control the affects that she was currently having on parts of his body that he thought had died a long time ago.

Blaine pleased with Finn's reaction turns to the guys in the pool, "Okay you two can be the captains and when everyone gets out here, you can pick your teams."

Still staring at Rachel, Finn walks over to Puck who was standing on the other side of the net and whispers, "Maybe Kurt had the right idea to keep this an intimate affair."

Puck shrugs his shoulders with lust in his eyes and turns to Finn, "Yep, princess did well with the guest list this year."

Finally, everyone made it poolside waiting on the captains to pick their team. Now normally, considering the participants you would think that Finn and Puck would be fighting over Sam, but this isn't the case. Puck won the coin toss for first pick.

"I'll take Quinn" Puck exclaims, "Now Finn you have to pick a lady so our teams stay even!"

Looking over at the group standing around the pool waiting to be chosen for a team, he is unable to take his eyes off of Rachel. Again, totally in shock of the tingle that he is feeling, "I bet a cousin rivalry would be fierce, come on Rachel and let us see what you got!"

"Oh Rachel is very competitive," Santana giggles at the look that Rachel is giving her as she slides into the pool.

"I'll take Sam", Puck chimes in.

"Blaine", Finn picks.

"Santana", Puck decides.

"Come on Britt, you are on my team", Finn motions.

"Okay, come on Kurt" Puck grumbles "that leaves you with Kitty, Finn."

As the game starts, Finn finds himself constantly looking at Rachel as she tries to keep her head above the water, with a chuckle he asks her if she was going to be able to play without drowning herself.

Rachel, who is probably the most competitive person in the pool, looks at him over her shoulder and smirks, "Be prepared to be amazed Finn, I always play to win!"

After about an hour in the pool, Finn's team won and Rachel proves to all of her new friends just how competitive she is. "I told ya I always play to win!" Rachel smirks at Finn as she was getting out of the pool to dry off. After always being told all of her life that she would never make it on Broadway or on the big screen because she didn't have 'the look'; Rachel has always pushed herself to prove to all of her doubters that she was going to get everything out of life that she ever wanted. Which in case you haven't noticed, she was doing just that.

Wrapping her towel around her, Rachel looks over at Blaine and asks if he'd go get her bag with her clothes in it so she could go home and shower and change. Realizing that he didn't want her to leave Finn speaks up, "You know there are three showers in my house and another one in the pool house, you are more than welcome to shower here."

"Oh okay, if you are sure." Rachel practically whispers.

"Absolutely, all of you are welcome to grab a shower." Finn tells all of his friends as he takes Rachel by her arm, yearning to feel the spark that he knows is there, leading her toward his house.

After Finn and Rachel walks into his house leaving all of their friends stunned, Puck winks at Quinn and boasts to the group. "I be damned, I don't think this is going to be as hard as we all thought!"

"I agree, I haven't seen Rachel this relaxed around a man every since the Brody incident." Quinn tells Puck.

"Exactly what happened to her, what made her give up on love and throw herself into work?" Puck asks looking at Quinn for the answer, "and why are you three so protective over her?"

"Rachel doesn't have a very good track record when it comes to relationships, she has fallen in love twice and both times it ended with the guy cheating." Quinn tells him as she shakes her head, "Jesse was her high school sweetheart, and he was sleeping with our theater teacher, and Brody cheated on her with her co-star in West Side Story."

"Do you mean the guy that played Tony?" Kurt asks with one of his eyebrows raised.

"Yes, and as to why we are all so protective of her, Rachel has had more heartbreak in her 25 years on this earth than most people have in a lifetime," Quinn sighs, "Rachel was raised by her two gay dads, who gave her everything that her heart desired, our families live in Ocean City; which is about three hours away from Baltimore where we went to school," tearing up she continues "our parents would take turns coming and staying with Rachel and I, usually my mom was with us since she could work from Baltimore; but she had business that she had to take care of at the office in Ocean City so Rachel's dads were on their way to come stay with us for a few days." Quinn starts crying even harder, Blaine wraps his arm around her shoulders and continues the heartbreaking details.

"They had stopped at a fruit stand in a pretty rough area of Baltimore and were approached by a group of men who demanded that they hand over their money and keys to the car; when they refused they were both shot multiple times." Blaine said fighting the tears that were threatening to fall, "Leroy critically but after weeks of fighting he survived, but unfortunately one of the bullets struck Hiram's heart and he died instantly.

"Ever since, I promised myself that I would never let Rachel's heart get broken again, and I have failed twice", Quinn whispers "she has a heart of gold, and there is absolutely nothing that I wouldn't do for her."

As everyone stood around in silence, unshed tears in their eyes; they all knew that they too would do anything to help make Rachel happy again.

Quinn speaks up finally, unable to take the silence any longer, "Okay this is a party, so we all need to put smiles on our faces and get out of these wet clothes so we can enjoy the rest of our day."

"I agree, come on ladies I'll show you to our guest bathrooms so you can get showered and dressed." Kurt said hugging Quinn.

Once everyone is sitting in their seats, the catered meal is brought out. Amazed at all the food that is being placed out for them, embarrassed Rachel turns to Blaine and whispers, "I guess you were right, I didn't need to make all of those dishes."

As soon as the words left her mouth she notices that all of her creations were being placed on the table with the catered meal. Finn shrugs overhearing what she had said to Blaine, "From what all of your friends said about your cooking, I just figured that it would taste better than what the restaurant could offer."

"Well I hope it all lives up to the hype!" blushing Rachel replies.

Everyone was sitting around the table in silence as they enjoyed the meal, once the men had finally finished eating; Puck finally broke the silence, "Rachel, babe please feel free to cook for us anytime that you want to!"

"Yes definitely, the only time I ever get a home cooked meal is when I find the time to make it home." Finn adds as he slices another piece of her 'better than sex' cake.

"Hey here's an idea; since like us," Kurt said as he motions to his friends, "you all don't have much to do with the Hollywood scene, why don't we set a standing dinner date just for the people sitting at this table."

"I would be honored to help you prepare the meals Rachel", Kitty boasts "because I'm fairly certain that you are the only one of us with any culinary skills."

"Alright, one night a week, everyone at this table better be at my house", Rachel said "now which day of the week shall we plan this for?"

"Well the Lawyers and the teacher are off on the weekends and I make my own schedule, so really it will have to boil down to when you and Blaine would be available." Kurt said as he looks at Rachel hoping this would be possible (hey don't forget that he still has his eye on Blaine).

"And I can schedule all of my meetings around the best time that works for Rachel and Blaine, and well Rachel is Santana's job; Brittney what does your schedule look like," Quinn asks since she hadn't heard what Brittney did for a living.

"Oh, I don't have anything coming up until rehearsals for a new movie that I will be choreographing in a few months," Brittney said, "and I won't be working many nights at first, so anytime is good for me."

"Are you talking about 'Full Moon'?" Kurt asks looking at Brittney; waiting for the light to come on in her head.

"Yeah, that's the name of it!" as she looks at Kurt, "How did you know, I was told that everything was being kept under wraps because some big Broadway star has been cast as the lead!"

Amazed once again at how scatter brained Brittney is, Kurt says really slowly; "Britt, a big Broadway star, one who just moved to the area…do you have any idea who that could be?" as he purposely looks at Rachel.

"Huh, No I don't know any one from Broadway, except for Rachel now." All so confused as to why everyone was looking at her the way that they are.

Rachel decides to help clear up the confusing, "Brittney, I am the Broadway actress that will be portraying the lead role," as she looks up at the rest of people at the table she continues, "Sunday's will be the best day for me."

Blaine agrees that Sunday would most likely be the best day for his filming schedule also.

"So it is settled than, we will meet every Sunday to share an amazing meal", Finn said as he shares a smile with Rachel, "and I will be happy to help cover the cost."

"Okay, it's settled than starting this Sunday, I expect all of your faces around my table at seven o'clock sharp" Rachel beams.

Later on that night, after the group spent hours sitting around the table just getting to know each other; Kurt announces that everyone needs to find their spots to watch the local fire department firework display; swearing that they had the best view from Finn's backyard.

The whole time that the new friends were talking around the table, Finn keeps thinking back to his conversation with Puck earlier today, and for the first time in nine months he decides that it is time to move on from his past and he couldn't help but wonder if Rachel could have a place in his future.

The group headed out in the yard to claim their spots for the firework show, Finn bent down and whispers in Rachel's ear, "I have the perfect place to watch the fireworks from, would you like to join me?"

Feeling very light-headed; unable to speak, Rachel just nods her head as she accepts his outreached hand. Finn looks around the yard and practically busts out laughing as he notices that everyone has paired off and spread out throughout his yard.

Leading Rachel around the house so no one would notice that they were going into the house, walking through the front door; he notices the confused look on Rachel's face he explains, "We are going up to the rooftop terrace, the fireworks are directly on top of you up there," giving her his half smirk, "is that okay with you?"

Still not able to find her voice, Rachel just nods; still finding herself in awe at how perfect her hand feels entwined with Finn's.

Rachel and Finn walks out to the rooftop terrace and were met by the wind that was starting to pick up, Finn pulls her closer to him as he asks if she wants him to go get a blanket for her.

Finally finding her voice, she whispers "Please that would be lovely." As she was wondering if the light-headed feeling that she feels was from the wine that she had been drinking on all day or from the warmth of Finn's body against hers. She quickly figures it out as soon as Finn pulls away from her to retrieve a blanket.

Finn is gone only for a few minutes but she found herself really missing his touch. "Here you go" Finn said, Rachel was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't even see him walk out the door to the terrace.

"Thank you, now where is this perfect spot that you were telling me about?" she asks reaching for the blanket and draping it over her shoulders; instantly realizing that she really would rather have his arms wrapped around her instead.

"Right this way," Finn said as he wraps his hand around her elbow. "I did promise you the best seat of the place."

Finn sits down on the floor of the terrace overlooking the massive backyard. Rachel is looking over the railing sneaking a peek at her friends feeling happier than she has in a very long time. She sees Quinn wrapped up in Puck's arms, Blaine holding Kurt close to his side and Santana kissing Brittney. "Oh wow, looks like everyone down there is having a good time", she giggles as she turns back to look at Finn. "Where are Sam and Kitty, I didn't see them down there?"

Mesmerized by the way Rachel looks with the moon shining down over her; he is having a hard time forming words, "Um Sam said that Kitty had too much to drink, so he was going to head on home for the night, I can't remember a time that Kitty has ever made it to the fireworks." Finn said with a smile.

"Oh okay, poor Kitty!" Rachel said shaking her head.

"Hey aren't you going to sit down and enjoy the show?" Finn whispers, "The show can last well over an hour and it really is more beautiful from down here."

"Okay, I'll take you word for it," Rachel whispers as she sits down next to Finn, brushing her leg against his and feeling the rapid beat of her heart through her body.

"Are you going to share that blanket with me or do I need to go get one for myself?" Finn asks with the most gorgeous smile on his face.

"Of course," she said as she spread the blanket over both of their legs as she leans closer to him so they are both covered. Finn wraps his arm around her shoulders, perfectly happy sitting there enjoying the fantastic firework show that is on display directly overhead as Finn had promised.

After the show, they reluctantly separate and stood up to head back down to the back yard for the bonfire that was planned for after the fireworks.

As they walk around the corner of the house, all of their friends are looking at them with questioning looks on all of their faces. "Where have you two been?" Puck questions; "We didn't even notice that you two had disappeared."

Rachel shrugs her shoulders and said "We didn't disappear, Finn just took me to the best place to see the fireworks." Smiling up at Finn "And I'm pretty certain that we did have the best view!"

"Noah Puckerman, what in the hell are you trying to do?" Kurt screams, "I don't think that you need to use a whole bottle of lighter fluid to get the fire started!"

Rachel laughed, "Noah, huh?" flinching from the look that Puck gives her.

Finn puts his arm around Rachel's shoulder and explains that Puck's real name was Noah, but only his mother was allowed to call him that.

"What's wrong with Noah?" Rachel asks "it's a perfectly suitable Jewish name; with a last name of Puckerman I assume that you are Jewish."

"Please do me a favor Berry, don't call me that!"

"Alright Puck, I won't call you that", she moves closer to him so no one else can hear "as long as you don't hurt my cousin."

"Promise and I really hope that you and Finn can get over the past and move forward together." whispering "I think that you two are perfect for each other."

"Oh don't be silly, he is just being friendly with me considering that all of my friends have abandoned me for others tonight?" Rachel says with a smile letting Puck know that she was okay with it.

"Rachel, believe me when I say that I haven't seen him this relaxed around a woman for a very, very long time." As he notices the smile on Rachel's face, "I don't know your whole story, but I do know that you deserve to be happy too!" adding quickly as he starts to walk toward the bonfire, "Now come on, it's a Hummel-Hudson tradition to roast marshmallows around the fire and tell stories."

All of the friends are sitting around the bonfire; the crackling of the wood burning on the fire is the only noise piercing the silence as everyone is lost in their own thoughts.

Rachel keeps replaying her conversation with Puck; just as Finn was doing with the conservation that they had hours ago. It was time to move on and find happiness again, both of them realizing at the exact same time that Puck was right; they look at each other at the same time with a smile. Neither one of them knowing how the other was feeling or if they both were feeling this way; but sometimes you just have to take a chance, right?

**See, I promised you guys that the chapters were going to get longer. Next chapter will include a bunch of hangovers and hook ups! Please let me know what you think so far.**


	5. Hangovers and Hookups

Thanks for all of the wonderful reviews. Here's the next chapter, the next morning...time for a new adventure. Once again I must thank Sara and Allie for helping me out!

Disclaimer: I own only my errors and a few characters that will be showing up soon.

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><p><strong>Hangovers and Hook Ups<strong>

"Oh my God, why did I buy a home with so many windows?" momentarily forgetting that the windows was the sticking point in buying this home. "I will never drink again for the rest of my life", she mumbles to herself as she grabs her head in hopes that the pressure of her hands will stop the throbbing of her headache. Very gingerly rising from her bed she heads to her bathroom suite to grab some pain reliever, stopping only to grab a bottle of water from her mini refrigerator.

After gulping down half of the bottle of water she knew that she needs caffeine, and she needs it now. Wrapping her robe around her body she replays the events of last night in her head. Smiling as she walks down stairs to start the largest pot of coffee that she could make. She vaguely remembers walking back to her house this morning as the sun was reaching the horizon with other people, but she really wasn't sure who all are sleeping upstairs.

"Morning Rachel" Brittney said as she walks in the kitchen with a sultry look in nothing but one of Santana's tee shirts and a pair of panties.

"Good Morning, Brittney," handing Brittney a mug of coffee "how well did you sleep?" pretty sure that there wasn't much sleeping going on in Santana's room last night.

"Oh I'm well rested thank you," Brittney answers as she accepts the coffee. "Did you enjoy the party yesterday?"

"To be honest, I can't remember the last time that I had that much fun." Rachel answers realizing that she hasn't been this happy long before Brody had broken off their engagement.

"Good Morning beautiful ladies," Kurt says way too chirper for this early in the morning and pulling Rachel from her thoughts. "Isn't it a beautiful morning?"

"Hey Kurt, I didn't realize that you were here too," Rachel says as she offers his a mug of coffee. "Is Finn home alone?"

"Finn is a big boy and he really prefers to be alone in the morning, Finn is definitely not a morning person." Kurt is very pleased to see that Finn is on Rachel's mind.

"Uggh, I need coffee now!" Santana says barely louder than a whisper walking into the kitchen dressed just like Brittney. "Morning baby" she says to Brittney with a peck on her cheek as she takes the large cup of coffee from Rachel.

"Damn Tana, I can't remember the last time that you were this hung over" Rachel smirks.

"Shut up," she mumbles "what's wrong with letting loose every once in a while?"

"You seem like you had a very good time last night yourself, Rachel." Kurt smiles.

"I had a lovely time last night," as her thoughts took her back up on Finn's rooftop terrace "I however, woke up in my own bed alone unlike everyone else in this house." giving Kurt a smile to let him know that it was alright that he was there.

Once Blaine finally joins everyone in the kitchen, they were already deep in a conversation about the events of last night, and wondering if Quinn had came home; since obviously no one remembers who had actually headed to Rachel's after the party this morning.

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><p>"Hello?" Finn answers his phone after realizing what that annoying sound is.<p>

"Are you still asleep?" Puck asks sarcastically.

Glancing over to his alarm clock and noticing that it was only 8 o'clock. "Well yeah considering that I've only been in bed for three hours!"

"Get your sorry ass up, Q and I were talking and we made plans for all of us for the rest of the weekend!" Puck says confidently.

"I wouldn't have thought that you and Quinn would have been doing much talking; anyway, what are these big plans?" Finn mumbles. (Give him a break; he hasn't had any coffee yet.)

"Well, I was telling her about your parents place in Malibu when we woke up this morning, and we just figured since we all have a long weekend that we should all take advantage of it."

"Wait, you want to take them to Malibu today?" Finn asks as he finally sits up.

"Sure why not, do you have any plans for the weekend?" Puck asks seriously, "and don't you dare say anything about work!"

"No, I don't have any plans except to just relax, and what makes you think that they would want to spend the week end with us?" Finn asks, "They barely know who we are!"

Puck starts laughing, "Seriously Finn; do you know where Kurt is, or where Brittney went after the party?"

"No I don't, I didn't realize that it was my turn to baby sit them!" Finn huffs, "I know that Quinn is with you at your house, and I assume that you know where Kurt and Brittney are!"

"Haha, smart ass", Puck says sarcastically, "anyway I feel like that they know us well enough to go away with us, so what do you say?"

"Sure why not, but don't ya think that you need to find out if they want to go away with us?"

"Just get your ass out of the bed and get ready and let Q and I worry about the others, Okay?"

"Fine, I'm jumping in the shower now and I need some coffee before I do anything, later dude." Finn says as he gets out of bed and heads to his shower.

As soon as Puck gets off the phone, Quinn picks her cell phone up and hits speed dial 2 for Rachel.

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><p>"It's Quinn" Rachel says as she answers her ringing phone, "Why hello Quinn how are you feeling this morning?"<p>

Quinn immediately fills Rachel in on the plans that she and Puck has made. Rachel turns to her friends and tells them the plans, "What do you guys think?"

After a collective yes, Rachel tells Quinn that everyone was up for a weekend getaway. Once they have hatched out all of the plans the girls got off of the phone, Quinn telling Rachel that she would be home in a few minutes to get packed.

"Well guys, I guess we all need to get packed to go to Malibu" Rachel says looking at Kurt "Just how big is your parents place?"

"It's plenty big enough; hey Santana is it okay if I help you pack Rachel's things?"

Santana notices the look in Kurt's eyes and she knows that he has a plan answers with a shrug, "Sure but don't you need to pack your own bags?"

"Oh honey, I always have a bag ready to go to Malibu!" Kurt smiles "I go there as often as I can to get away from my busy life."

"I can pack my own bag guys" Rachel pipes in, "Quinn said that Puck wants to be on the road within the next two hours."

"I'm ready to go except for a shower, so why don't you show me your closet and I'll pack you up while you shower", adding "after I get your things packed up I'll run home and get ready myself."

"Okay" Rachel agrees then she turns to Brittney, "Britt, how about you, do you need to run home and pack?"

Brittney just shakes her head and tells Rachel that she always has a packed bag in her car because she rarely ever stays at her house. "But I think that I only have one bathing suit with me, so I may need to stop at one of the shops at the beach to grab a few."

Blaine and Santana heads up the stairs to pack their bags and to shower as Quinn walks through the front door. "Well, look who made it home", Santana tells Blaine as she directs a smirk to Quinn.

Shrugging Quinn replies, "Well by the looks of the two of you, I wasn't the only one who was entertaining after the party.", as she walks up the staircase to her own suite with a smile on her face.

Laughing Blaine turns to Santana and simply says, "Let's get ready, shall we?"

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><p>Everyone is standing in Finn's drive way after deciding to take Finn's Range Rover and Puck's Navigator. "Damn Kurt, why do you need three suitcases for three days?" Finn grumbles as he throws the last one in the back of his vehicle.<p>

"I always have to be prepared for any event, I AM a fashion designer and I simply cannot be seen in the wrong outfit for any occasion." Kurt huffs.

"Dude, we are going to the beach, all you need to worry about is swimsuits and sunscreen", Puck looks around to the group and says "Okay, we're ready to roll."

Blaine and Kurt climbs into the backseat of Finn's vehicle as Finn helps Rachel sit in the front seat. Brittney, Santana and Quinn gets into Puck's vehicle as Puck looks over to Finn and asks with a wink, "Are you ready for this?"

Looking back to the front seat of his Range Rover and putting his Ray Bans on Finn says with a smile, "You bet!"

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><p>So they're heading to Malibu for a week-end getaway. Are Finn and Rachel on the same page? Will they finally let go of all their hurt and try to love again? WARNING: A major roadblock is on her way. How will everyone react to it. Will we leave Malibu with Finchel? Let me know what you think.<p> 


	6. Life after Hangovers

**Okay, sorry about the mix up here is chapter six, Thanks to Allie and Sara for all of their help with this.**

**Disclaimer: Still don't own glee or the characters. enjoy**

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><p>After a short trip to the coast, Finn and Puck pulled into the garage of the most gorgeous beach home that Rachel has ever seen. (Now remember that Rachel Quinn and Blaine grew up in an ocean side town on the east coast.)<p>

"WOW, this home is gorgeous Finn!" Rachel says as she is looking up to the beautiful brick mansion that sits right on the beach.

Kurt pipes up from the backseat, "This isn't anything, wait until you see the inside and the view from the back!" Kurt can't help but to be amazed over the fact that this famous actress was in awe of their family's vacation home, "it's really a shame that our parents don't get to come out here very often, so this house sits empty almost all the time."

"Which reminds me Kurt, we will probably need to run down to the store after we get everyone settled in, I'm sure the fridge is empty." Finn says as he starts unloading the luggage from the back of his Range Rover.

Puck walks up behind Finn with his arms full of luggage, "Dude I really don't think we need all eight of us going to the grocery store," with a smirk "maybe you and the chef should go."

Smiling back at Puck, Finn just simply says that's fine with him.

"Isn't Sam and Kitty coming to stay with us?" Quinn asks as she joins the group at the back of Finn's SUV.

"Sam said that they may come up tomorrow, Kitty wasn't feeling up to the trip today." Brittney says as she walks by everyone else with her luggage.

"As you can tell, our friends have been up here plenty of times," Finn says looking at Rachel, "this trip is all about our new friends." Uncharacteristic for her, Rachel was lost of words and just smiles up at Finn.

"So are we just going hang out in the fucking garage all weekend or are we going to actually go in the house?" Puck asks, "These bags are starting to get heavy!"

"Come on guys; we don't want Puck to start crying, let's go inside." Finn says as he glares at Puck.

"Asshole, if my hands weren't full I'd give you a one finger salute!" Puck grumbles.

"Oh my, I don't think I'll ever want to leave this place," Rachel breathes "I don't believe that I've ever seen such a beautiful home before in my life."

Finn whispers to Rachel to come with him so she can have the room with the best view. She has to catch herself from saying that she hoped that view included him. Oh shit, where did that thought come from? She keeps repeating to herself that Finn is just a friend and that she isn't ready to get involved with anyone. (Is it a bad thing that she has to convince herself of this fact?)

"Here we are, Rach" Finn smiles as he opens the door to her weekend retreat, "this room has the best view of the beach from the balcony." Finn sits her luggage on the king size bed and tells her to check out the view as he opens the French doors leading out to the balcony.

"Finn, you are right, this is most certainly the most amazing view that I've ever seen," as she looks up at him she asks "are you sure that you don't want this room?"

"Nope, I have the exact same view," pointing to another door behind him "right here is my room so you'll have to share the balcony with me, if that's alright with you?" he whispers as he moves closer to her.

Intoxicated by Finn's smell, she finds herself leaning toward him as she whispers, "I couldn't think of anyone better that I would rather share it with." They find themselves in a trance just staring in each others eyes; only looking away from each other when they hear Santana walking into Rachel's room.

"Hey Rachel, we're all hungry and since there isn't anything in the house to eat we're wondering if you guys were planning on going to the store anytime soon?"

"Well considering that I am the only one who can cook apparently, I really don't think that it would matter if the kitchen was fully stocked because you would still be up here whining for me to cook for you," Rachel smirks "but yes I believe that we are getting ready to leave for the store." She adds as she looks at Finn for confirmation.

"Let us get unpacked, and then we will leave for the store." Finn says to Santana. And as always Santana just assumes that Finn and Rachel were sharing a room. "So you and the jolly giant are sharing this room?" she whispers to Rachel as Finn closes the doors to the balcony.

"No Santana, his room is next door to mine; he was just showing me the view that we have from our shared balcony of the beach." Rachel says with a blush because she is actually wishing that they were sharing this room. "Now go on back downstairs and everybody can decide what they would like to eat while we are here; as soon as I have my clothes put away I'll be right down." Rachel tells Santana as she pushes her through the open bedroom door.

"Um Rachel, these rooms do share a bathroom so if that makes you uncomfortable I can just move into another room." Finn tells her as he rubs the back of his neck, which Rachel has already learned meant that he was nervous.

"Don't be silly Finn, it'll be fine," she mumbles "just don't leave your dirty clothes in the floor." She adds with a laugh. Finn just laughs and tells her that it may be hard for him to remember to pick up his clothes as he walks to his bedroom through the bathroom.

Rachel finally left alone with her thoughts couldn't help but think that maybe she is ready to date again; all she needs to know is if Finn feels the same way. (A little shameless flirting wouldn't hurt, would it?)

"Are you ready?" Finn asks her once again catching her thinking about him.

"Yes, let's go before the starving pack downstairs comes up here and ravish us!" Just great, her statement now has his wishing that he could ravish her right now all by himself. (Damn it, where are all of these thought coming from idiot, we are just friends; she's not interested in you!)

Reaching for Rachel's arm he simply replies, "You're right, we better head to the store."

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><p>As they are walking down the spiraling staircase they hear screaming and shouting from the kitchen; looking at each other they both hurry up their steps.<p>

"What the hell woman, I'm a man I need more than fucking rabbit food to survive!" Puck scours at Santana.

"Let me guess, you want to stuff your stupid fat ass with raw meat?" she asks smirking, "Rachel doesn't handle meat, so who do you plan on preparing your food?"

"Puck, Santana chill out, I was actually thinking that maybe one of the guys could grill out steaks and salmon while us girls prepared the sides." Rachel boasts as she stands in between the two, fearing that Santana was seconds away from going all New Yorker on Puck.

"That sounds like an amazing idea Rach, and I actually do know how to grill," Finn smirks, "and ladies you can enjoy the view while you prepare the sides beachside since my mom insisted on having an outdoor kitchen built when they bought this house."

"Okay, now that this is settled we better head out Finn, before they kill each other!" Rachel says as she starts walking out of the kitchen and heading for the door.

Less than ten minutes the duo finds themselves pushing a shopping cart through the produce section of the local grocery store. Conversation between the two came easily as if they have been friends forever. Finn is telling Rachel that in a couple of weeks after her album drops that she won't be able to walk through a grocery store so easily.

"I know, but I signed up for the attention when I chose my career path; it's my friends that I am concerned for." Rachel says as she looks down at her hands wrapped around the handle on the shopping cart. "I hate that once my album comes out and I start filming that I won't be able to go anywhere with my friends because of the paparazzi."

Leaning into Rachel and wrapping his arm around her waist, he looks in her eyes as he says, "Some dude with a camera won't run me off!"

Mesmerized by the look in Finn's eyes Rachel replies, "That's good to know, I can just tell everyone that you are my body guard" she shrugs.

Thinking how bad he'd like to be guarding her body, Finn whispers "I was thinking more as being your attorney; but just so you know, I would protect you." Rachel is getting to answer him when she is interrupted.

"Finn, is that you?"

Rachel feels Finn tense up as she hears his name, looking up she is met by the most beautiful blue eyes piercing through her.

"Lucy", Finn deadpans, not once looking at the gorgeous woman. Rachel remembers the name Lucy from a conversation that she had with Kurt at the party.

"I guess what they say is true, you know; great minds do think alike." Lucy says as she bats her eyes.

Rachel could tell how uncomfortable Finn has become, deciding to throw all caution to the wind as she pulls Finn's face down mere inches from hers whispering, "Baby, are you alright?" right before brushing a kiss to his lips; hoping that Finn would catch on with what she was doing.

Apparently he does as he tightens his grip on Rachel and looks into her eyes and tells her that he would always be okay as long as she was in his arms.

"Excuse me, but I really didn't come to the grocery store to see my ex-fiancé making out with a midget." Huffing, "You know Finn, Edward and I aren't together any longer, and I have missed you."

"As you can see, I haven't missed you;" Finn replies void of any emotions "I've moved on with this beautiful woman."

"Well are you at least going to introduce me to my competition?" Lucy snarls "Even though, I wouldn't call it much of one!"

"I'm Rachel Berry", Rachel firmly states as she darts daggers at the blonde with her eyes, "and believe me when I say that Finn is very happy."

"Hummp, Finn knows that I never give up on what I want," she snarls as she turns to walk away; "isn't that right, Finn?"

Finally finding his voice he replies, "Not this time Lucy," glancing down at the woman in his arms, "you lost the chance to be in my life when you chose to cheat on me with a paralegal."

As Rachel and Finn watches Lucy's retreating form, she looks at Rachel and says dryly, "For Finn, work is his first love and everyone or everything else will always come in second; once all of the newness wears off, you'll be gone too." She adds as she turns the corner at the end of the aisle.

Still feeling the tight grip that Finn has on her, Rachel looks up and kisses him lightly on his lips then she whispers that she is sorry that he had to deal with seeing Lucy.

At this minute, it hit Finn like a bolt of lightening; he feels nothing for Lucy anymore, and he wants to be with the tiny brunette that is currently pressed up against his chest in the middle of the aisle of a grocery store.

"It's okay, I needed to see her to really realize that I am truly over her and ready to move on." he says huskily as he bends his head down and kisses Rachel again.

**Told you that our favorite couple would run into a roadblock, will this be the last time that they have to deal with her? Review and let me know what you all think. Mel**


	7. Preparing the Heart

**Alright, here's another chapter for you! I hope that y'all are still enjoying this. Like I've said many times Finn and Rachel will not leave my head. Much love to Allie and Sara and thank you for all of the lovely reviews.**

**Disclaimer: I still haven't figured out how to get the rights for Glee or the original characters, I do own Lucy and a couple more characters that will appear down the road.**

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><p>After the back of the SUV was loaded, Finn and Rachel finds themselves sitting in a quiet vehicle. Rachel places her small hand on Finn's wrist just as he was reaching for the ignition and she looks up in his eyes and she asks barely louder than a whisper, "Are you sure that you are alright?"<p>

"Yeah…yes I am; you know that I feared seeing her again," giving Rachel a half turned up smile, "but honestly the only thing that I feel is anger…mostly because of the way that she spoke to you!"

"Finn, something I learned a very long time ago is that anger is a wasted emotion," Rachel says as she continues to stare into his eyes, "an emotion that we must let go of in order to carry on and truly be happy in our lives."

Smiling at her Finn tells her that she is absolutely right and he hopes that she can help him achieve that goal; because at the end of the day he really does want to be happy.

"I'll make a deal with you," Rachel says as she sits back up in her seat reaching for her seatbelt, "if one of us starts feeling low, we'll let the other know and we will get through it together."

"Deal" Finn says as he realizes that this petite brunette may just be the person to help him be happy again.

Both of them feeling so much better as Finn pulls out of the parking lot heading back to their waiting friends.

After a few minutes of carrying on a light conversation, Finn sneaks a look at Rachel and says, "It wouldn't surprise me if Lucy showed up at the house, you know just to try to ruin our weekend!"

"Let her come, she won't ruin our weekend;" beaming her gorgeous smile at Finn, "You've met Tana, right?"

Laughing, Finn answers, "Yeah, you're right, and if Santana doesn't stop her, I'm sure Puck will!"

Rachel tells Finn that they will worry about it if she shows up because she has no intention of letting Lucy ruin their vacation.

They are greeted by all of their friends before Finn even has the chance to properly park his Range Rover.

Rachel smiles at their friends and sarcastically asks, "Are you guys out here to carry in the groceries?"

"Yeah, we figured that the sooner we got it all carried in, the sooner we could eat." Puck answers, not even hiding the fact that he is only helping because he is so hungry.

"Okay, let's all get this inside and put away the things that we aren't preparing tonight, then we can get started on tonight's meal." Rachel says as she grabs one of the cloth bags out of the truck of the SUV.

As they are walking in Finn turns to Puck and tells him that he and Rachel had a run in with Lucy at the grocery store. With a concerned look on his face, Puck asks Finn if he is okay.

"I am, Rachel was more than happy to help me get rid of her," smirking he whispers to him "she kissed me like three times in front of her to make her think that we were a couple."

"And by the shit eating grin that's on your face right now, you are thinking that could become a possibility or at least hoping that it can?"

"Maybe, who knows?" Finn speaks low enough so no one else can hear his next words, "But I'm thinking that I may just give it a try and see what happens."

"I agree with you dude, I've missed this Finn!" pulling Finn down toward him and whispers, "and from what Quinn has said to me; I feel like the feelings are mutual."

Everyone is so busy putting everything away, none of them noticed that they have company until there was a knock on the door. Since there is no doubt in Finn's mind who was at the door, with a roll of his eyes he heads to the front door. "What do you want, Lucy?" he asks as he opens the door.

"Oh come on Finn, you know that you are happy to see me," walking into the home without being invited, "Where's your midget? Has she already run away, because you know as well as I do that she is no comparison to me!"

Shocking all of their friends, Rachel calls as she walks toward the door, "Finn, baby who's at the door? I mean all of our guests have already arrived." Once she reaches Finn, she wraps her arms around her waist and peers at Lucy.

"Oh hi, Lucy... is it?" Rachel asks as she cuddles into Finn side.

"Oh darling, you will remember my name once Finn comes to his senses and comes back to me." Lucy growls.

By this time all of the friends have made it to the door. "Well, well, well… look what the cat drug in, the biggest bitch on the Pacific coast, what are you doing here and where is your kid?" Puck snarled.

"Long time no see, Puck and for your information; my child is with his father this weekend and I wanted a little getaway." She smirks at Finn as she still talks to Puck, "running into Finn is definitely an added bonus."

"Look bitch, this is a private party, and you are not invited and I have absolutely no problem making you leave." Santana says as she approaches Lucy, effectively putting herself in between Rachel and the blonde; apparently everybody has caught on the 'game' that Rachel is playing, Santana continues "Finn and Rachel are very happy together and it will take so much more that a bleach blonde bimbo to break them up, now remove yourself from this property before I remove you."

Glaring into Santana's eyes, Lucy promises that this isn't over and reminds Finn once again that she always gets what she wants before she turns to walk back to her car.

"I'm not a possession, and you will never have another chance with me. You ruined me Lucy, and it has taken me a very long time to trust and love again and I will not let you ruin this for me." Finn says as he unconsciously motions between Rachel and himself.

As she reaches for the door to close it, Rachel pipes in "Goodbye Lucy and if I ever see you again, it will be too soon."

Everyone at once starts talking about Lucy's surprise visit and Finn just raises his hand and tells the friends to let it go so they can enjoy their evening together.

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><p>The guys are around the grill practically grilling Finn about what all went down between him and Rachel. He shrugs and just tells them that she helped him out with Lucy at the grocery store. Of course, Puck had to tell them about the impromptu kisses between Finn and Rachel.<p>

"What?" Kurt sputters his drink from his mouth.

"You're talking about that Rachel?" Blaine asks just as shocked as Kurt.

"Alright guys don't make it out to be more than what it is; she was just helping get Lucy off of my back." Finn says seriously, trying very hard to convince himself just that.

"Finn listen to me, Rachel doesn't do that. She takes everything very seriously; she kissed you because she feels something for you," Blaine whispers "IF she had just hugged you close or grabbed your hand, I'd believe that she was just doing it to help you out."

"So what are you saying, Blaine?" Kurt asks "Do you think that Rachel likes Finn?"

"If I had to bet on the odds, I would put all of my money on yes."

"So dude, how do you feel about our little starlet?" Puck asks as he flips one of the steaks.

"I feel something for her, something that I didn't think that I would every feel again," looking at Blaine, "I can't call it love by no means, but what I feel for her is way more than I do for a friend. I just don't know if I can risk caring about her and finding out that she just wants me as a friend."

"Finn, Rachel has always worn her feelings on her sleeve, spend some alone time with her tonight and you will be able to get your answer fairly easy." Blaine says straight to the point. Finn asks his friends how is he supposed to get her away from the girls as he looks over at them and sees that they too are having a very intense private conversation.

"Leave that to us after dinner dude, and I'll let Brittney know that she and Santana needs to disappear after dinner too!" Puck says as he pats Finn on the shoulder. Finn realizes right then that it is now or never. He knows that he is ready to move on and that he really wants it to be Rachel that he moves on with.

They group of guys continue grilling the salmon and steaks with each of them lost in his own thoughts.

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><p>"Rachel, that was pretty bold of you to stand up to that Lucy chick like that," Quinn says as she prepares the garden salad "I know that you are an amazing actress, but you even had me fooled into believing that you and Finn are a couple!"<p>

"I just felt like I needed to help him, she was so sure of herself that he was just going to throw himself at her feet begging her to take him back," shrugging her shoulders "it wasn't a big deal, I was just helping a friend out!"

"Rachel sweetie, I know you and this is more than a friend helping another friend; and you know it." Quinn whispers.

"Didn't you tell me that you didn't even kiss Brody until you had been dating him for weeks?" Santana asks, "You kissed Finn more than once and you aren't even dating; just admit it to yourself and maybe even to him that you care about him already."

"Tana, I can't risk getting my hopes up just to have them shot back down," Rachel says as she looks away from her friends "What if he only sees me as a friend?"

"Well babe, you are the only one who can find that out for you," Quinn says as she puts her hand under Rachel's chin and makes her look at her. "You owe yourself a chance for happiness and you aren't going to find it if you don't pursue it."

"I know, you're right, seems like I have some things to think about after dinner." Rachel says as she prepares her broccoli and cauliflower salad.

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><p><strong>Next Chapter, the feelings are finally shown. Review, Review and Review! Citrus is a coming!<strong>


	8. Great Food with Awesome Friends

**Okay guys the feelings are starting to get real. I hope that you all are enjoying this story still. Once again I have to think Allie and Sara for making sure that I'm keeping my wording straight.**

**Disclaimer: You know the drill, I still don't own Glee or any of the original characters. I wouldn't mind owning Finn though. :) Reviews would be lovely, they let me know that you are still reading this. Love, Melanie**

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><p>Rachel, always the perfectionist; is preparing the table for the meal by placing a white linen tablecloth on the table and a centerpiece made of fresh flowers and candles. Quinn, Santana and Brittney start bringing the food over from the outdoor kitchen to set it on the table as the men stand around the grill as Finn finishes.<p>

"Rachel, do you really think that we need garden salad, broccoli and cauliflower salad, ranch eggplant boats, fire roasted butternut squash with kale and honey roasted red potatoes?" Quinn asks.

"Oh Quinn, don't forget the caramelized banana pudding and mixed berries angel food cake for desert!" Santana smirks at Rachel, "Are you trying to fatten us all up, or are you planning on us eating this all weekend?"

"Well, I don't know what their tastes are, so I just made some of my favorites to share," huffing as she crosses her arms, "there is no such thing as too many choices."

As Finn and Puck carry the platters of steak and salmon to the table, Puck whistles as he looks at all of the food in front of him, "Wow, look at this spread; ladies you certainly know the way to a man's heart."

"Hey Puck why don't you come help me get the wine out of the cellar instead of standing there drooling over the food?" Finn asks as he turns to walk back into the house.

"Sure dude, but I hope that you have beer in the fridge too because this shark doesn't do wine." Puck turns toward everyone else and threatens, "Don't think about touching a crumb of that food until we get back!"

"I promise you Puck that we made plenty for everyone." Rachel says as she places the last place setting on the table.

Everyone's sitting around the table enjoying the feast; their mouths so full of food the only sound that could be heard is the crashing of the waves on the beach.

'Don't stop believin', Hold on to the feelin' Quinn's phone sounds, "Oh my God, I'm sorry Rachel, but I've been waiting on a call from Maverick all day; excuse me" Quinn quickly says as she stands and walks away from the table.

"Journey is Q's ring tone, really?" Puck smirks.

"Journey has always been our favorite band, when we were little we would dance around and sing their songs all the time." Rachel tells Puck.

"And it is our anthem; you know the whole being from a small town and gaining fame thing?" Blaine adds with a blush.

"We grew up listening to Journey too, and we performed their songs all the time in our glee club back home!" Brittney offers totally missing the looks that she is getting from Finn and Puck.

"Wait, I knew that Britt & Princess were in the glee club," Santana says as she points between Finn and Puck, "but you two? You were in the glee club too?"

"Thanks, Britt." Puck mumbles as Finn just ducks his head into his hands.

"Actually, Finn was the male lead, and Puck was also one of our stronger voices as well." Kurt adds smiling at Finn and Puck, enjoying their embarrassment.

"Why didn't you guys ever tell us that you were in glee club?" Rachel asks, "You know that Blaine, Quinn and I were in schools of performing arts since kindergarten."

"That's why we never said anything," Finn tells Rachel, "we were scared that you would want to hear us sing."

"Which won't be happening, I haven't sung in years!" Puck adds effectively ending the conversation as Quinn walks back out to the table.

"What's up Quinn?" Rachel asks as soon as Quinn sits back down, "What did Maverick want to talk to you about?"

Sighing, Quinn looks at her cousin apologetically, "Colombia has pushed up your album release a little bit. He wants you to start doing promotion work a week from Monday."

"What? The last thing that I heard was that they were going to wait until I was finished filming 'Full Moon'; why has that changed and why was you, my manager, not involved in the decision making?" Rachel rambles unable to believe that her mini vacation is getting ready to be over soon.

"Whoa, calm down and I'll explain everything for you!" Quinn scolds her cousin. "Columbia and Paramount have reached a deal to push back filming by a month and they will add three songs to the soundtrack; they want you to spend a week on the east coast promoting and a couple of days out here when you get back."

"East coast, as in where on the east coast and exactly what kind of promotion will I be doing?" Rachel asks starting to get the feeling that she isn't going to like the answer.

"Per your request, you will first perform a set in Baltimore and interview with Mark and Cory, then we'll head home so you can perform a few songs and have a meet and greet at The Pavilion," Quinn says dreading the next words that she has to say; "then we will go to New York City for two more meet and greets."

"I'm not ready to go back to New York… not yet," Rachel says as she stands to storm off to her bedroom "I'm sorry guys, please excuse me, I just need to be alone for a little while."

"What the hell, Quinn?" Santana asks much too loud, "Why would you agree to her going to New York?"

"Because Tana, this was the best deal for Rachel's career!" Quinn screams angrily, "If we agree to release the album before she starts filming the studio agrees to have more of her songs on the soundtrack AND it will give her more exposure."

Blaine stands up from the table and excuses himself so he can go talk to Rachel, "Quinn, this is an amazing opportunity for Rachel and she will realize it."

"For the record, I did try to avoid New York but the both of the executives thought that since she is a well known Broadway star that it was essential that she promote there." Quinn tells her friends before she excuses herself for her room.

"Santana, why is Rachel so worked up about going to New York?" Puck asks since apparently everyone else at the table has lost their voices.

"Brody;" she shrugs "we promised her the night that we decided to move out here that she wouldn't have to worry about seeing him again."

"But New York City is huge," Finn finally says as he continues to have an internal fight about whether he should go after Rachel or not, "what are the chances that she would even see him?"

"I'm not sure what you have been told about Brody, but he is a very self-centered, heartless asshole who only thinks about what can get his noticed." Santana growls with frustration, "I wouldn't put it past him to try to get close to her again just for the publicity!"

"Do you think that he would want her back?" Finn whispers, automatically fearing that Rachel wasn't totally over Brody.

"No, he left her for her male co-star, citing that he was madly in love with him;" noticing the look on Finn's face, "and even if he did want to get back with her, she wouldn't."

Blaine walks back out to the table and sits down before he continues Santana's thoughts, "She is ready to move on from Brody; I think that she feels that her happiness is out here in LA." Sharing a look with Puck trying to relay exactly what he means by what he just said.

"Who will be able to go with her?" Brittney asks, "Because she's going to need as much support that she can get."

"Blaine won't be able to go since he is still filming, so I guess it will just be Quinn and I." Santana answers, "Rachel doesn't believe in security, so I doubt she'll let Columbia hire any."

"Why the Hell not?" Finn fumes, "She'll be a moving target."

"Because; and I quote, security guards are mean to my fans!" Santana says while making air quotation signs. "She believes that she wouldn't be where she is today without her fans, and she always takes time out to talk to them and pose for pictures with them; which as you probably know is a security guards worst nightmare."

Before any one could ask any more questions about Brody, Rachel came back outside with her face still tear stained, "Sorry guys, I ruined our meal because I acted like a spoiled brat; please forgive me." She says without looking in anyone's eyes.

"You didn't ruin anything," Finn says reaching over and rubbing her arm, "you just found out that your schedule has completely changed and it threw you through a loop; totally understandable!"

"Thanks Finn," Rachel looks around to the remaining faces around the table; "I'm really sorry; but can we get back to having fun now? I will worry about this promotion tour when we get home on Sunday."

After the meal, everyone starts clearing the table so they can get everything cleaned up so they can enjoy the rest of their evening.

Rachel walks over to Quinn and hugs her as she apologizes for the way she acted and asks which songs were going to be used in the movie.

"Rachel, I knew that it is going to be hard for you to go back to New York so soon, but I promise that you won't be alone." With a squeeze of her shoulder she adds, "And the songs they chose were 'Burn with you' 'Cue the Rain' and 'Don't Let Go'.

"Okay, you're right, I can do this." Rachel says as she walks back into the house. Rachel reminds her self that she is a star and that she decides right then and there that she will not let Brody ruin her life any longer.


	9. Walking Hand in Hand

**AN: Here we go onto the next chapter; nope I still have nothing to do with Glee or the original characters. All of my stories are in honor of Cory Monteith; and I once again promise that Finn will always have his happy ending…and in my world that means that he will always end up with Rachel. **

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><p><strong>Walking Hand in Hand<strong>

Kurt suggests that they talk a stroll down on the beach to watch the continuing sun set. Immediately, everyone breaks up in pairs as they walk the shoreline carrying on their own conversations.

"I really wish that I could go home with the girls," Blaine tells Kurt as he reaches for his hand, "I'm nervous about them being in New York by themselves."

"I know you do," Kurt whispers delightfully as he relishes in the feel of Blaine's hand in his, "but you are in the middle of shooting the pilot season of your show, taking time off now may jeopardize the whole production."

"I know, and believe me even if I was to suggest it to Rachel, she'd refuse to let me!"

Santana and Brittney were deep in a quiet conversation as they hurry up to catch Kurt and Blaine. "Hey Kurt hold up a second!" Santana exclaims.

Stopping to wait on the girls to catch up with them Kurt asks, "What's up, Santana?"

"Well, Britt and I were just talking and we feel like Quinn and I are going to need reinforcement in New York," pulling Kurt really close to her so no one else can hear, "I know that Finn and Puck has just started their firm; but what are the chances of us being able to talk them into taking a short vacation to the east coast?"

"I know that Finn has just completed a pretty intense case and I don't think that he is working on anything right now that one of the associates couldn't handle." Kurt says, trying to remember if Finn had said anything about any of his 'important' clients currently being in any legal trouble.

"Could Sam handle all of the Senior Partners' decisions on his own?" Blaine asks Kurt, realizing how perfect it could be if they could go with the girls. "I know that I wouldn't worry about my girls as much if they were with them."

"I'll talk to Quinn about discussing it with Puck when they're alone," smirking Santana continues, "I know that she can easily persuade Puck to come along with us."

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><p>"What's on your mind?" Finn questions Rachel with a nudge of his shoulder, "You are being awful quiet."<p>

"I'm sorry Finn," Rachel sulks "I know that I'm not much fun right now; I just can't believe that I have to return to New York so soon!"

"Please quit apologizing for how you feel," Finn asks "but just like you did for me earlier today, I'm going to give you a little advice," Finn says as he grabs her shoulders so he can look directly in her eyes, "don't let someone else prevent you from living your life."

"You're right, I can't let him dictate my life," stepping closer to him "Not even three months ago, I was preparing to meet him at the altar and now I dread the thought of even seeing him."

Looking into her eyes, "Are you upset because he called off the wedding, I mean I know how I felt when I found out about Lucy and her lies."

"No, that's the funny thing; I'm not upset at all." Pulling him even closer to her, "I feel absolutely nothing for him or my past with him." She stands up on her tiptoes and lightly kisses Finn, "I really do feel that everything that I need is right here!"

"Oh God, I hope so," Finn whispers before kissing her again.

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><p>All eight bodies are currently sprawled out around the spacious living room discussing options of activities that they can do tomorrow.<p>

"Parasailing, the adrenaline rush is the best." Puck offers.

"Oh Hell no, you aren't getting me up in the air over the ocean, forget it!" Kurt huffs.

"Why, are you afraid that it may mess up your hair?" Finn smirks.

"Ha Ha, very funny Finn," Kurt huffs, "I would rather not die on this trip."

"Wimp! What do you suggest then, shopping?" Puck asks sarcastically.

"Well…"Kurt starts to say before being cut off by Santana.

"We didn't come to the beach to go shopping Princess, we came to the beach to soak up the sun and have a good time."

"Why don't we just wait until Sam and Kitty gets here, maybe they'll have some ideas?" Rachel offers.

Finn shouts quickly, "Hell no, Sam always has the worst ideas."

"Yeah, that's how we ended up with some crazy ass tattoos, ain't that right Finn?" Puck asks.

"Shut up dude, we had a deal that we would never talk about that night again!"

"Why are you embarrassed about your tattoo Finn?" Rachel asks as she lifts his sleeve on his tee shirt, "I like it." As she delicately traces the tribal band with her finger.

"Oh that ain't the tattoo Finn got that night?" Puck roars in laughter.

"Hey ass, you have the exact same one that I have, remember?" Finn says feeling flustered as Rachel continues to trace his tattoo.

"Are you guys going to enlighten us?" Quinn asks as she looks over at Puck.

"Umm..it's..it's just OSU." Finn mumbles shooting a glare at Kurt daring him to say anything about it.

Kurt dares, "They all have OSU on their asses!" running out of the living room when he sees Finn and Puck jumping up and heading toward him.

Rachel, unable to hold her laughter in asks, "Really, you guys have tattoos on your butts."

By this time, everyone is in a full fit of laughter. Quinn looks over to where Puck and Finn have Kurt cornered and says, "Come on guys, let us see."

Smirking at Quinn, Rachel stands up and motions for her to follow; reaching the guys before they have the chance to move and reaching for the waistbands of their shorts and pulls them down exposing the said tattoos.

"Oh my God, how drunk were you two when you let Sam talk you into getting those?" Santana boasts.

As soon as he felt her hands on his waist, Finn turns around and grabs Rachel and throws her over his shoulder exclaiming that she was going to pay for that. In the midst of her squeals and laughter; they both miss the looks that all of their friends are given one another.

"What are you going to do to me?" Rachel squeals as she feels Finn walking out of the living room.

"You'll find out real quick!" Finn says with only amusement in his voice.

Realizing that Finn is walking toward the doors that led out to the pool, Blaine jumps to his feet telling everyone to follow them, "He's heading for the pool, we don't want to miss this!"

'Splash'

"Finnnnn!" Rachel exclaims as she comes back to the surface of the pool, "Now help me out!" she demands with a mischievous glint in her eyes. Reaching out to take her hand, Finn doesn't have time to realize what she was up to until he too was in the pool.

"Well that didn't go the way I planned." Finn says as he wraps his hands around Rachel's waist to help her stay afloat.

"They are so perfect for each other." Quinn whispers in Puck's ear as she watches her cousin smiling up at Finn. "They are so much alike."

"Rachel's corny too?" Puck chuckles as he wraps his arms around Quinn to escort her back into the house.

Rachel and Finn totally lost in each other oblivious to their audience until Kurt speaks up.

"Hey, you guys just gonna hang out in the pool tonight?" Kurt asks, grabbing Blaine's hand and walking back into the house.

Embarrassed that she hadn't even noticed her friends, Rachel looks at Finn and tells him maybe they should get out of the pool. Agreeing, he turns and lifts Rachel out of the pool and places her on the side. "Yuck I hate wet clothes," Rachel tells Finn as she offers her hand to help him out of the pool "I'm going to go change into some dry ones."

"Right behind you, how about we meet on our balcony afterwards," as he rubs the back of his neck, "you know…if you want to; it's a wonderful place to wind down."

"That sounds like a perfect idea, meet you there in about twenty minutes." Rachel smiles up at him.

After wrapping a beach towel around Rachel and grabbing one for himself, Finn steers Rachel to the Kitchen entrance so they could avoid getting the carpet wet in the living room. (So what if it also meant that they would be avoiding their friends too.)

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><p><strong>What could possibly happen out on the balcony, under the moonlight with the view of the beach underneath? Feelings are going be on full display next chapter. This little chapter is just some fluff before all of the fun begins. Read and Review and let me know what you think. ; )<strong>


	10. Wine Glasses unth the Moonlight

**AU: How about some quality alone time for our favorite couple. Much love to Allie and Sara for all of their help with this story. For those of you who are also reading Finding Love on Tour. I almost have chapter 3 ready to post. *Citrus alert this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own Glee or the original characters nor any songs that I may use in this story. Here we go…**

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><p>Wine Glasses under the Moonlight<p>

Finn quickly showers in the hallway bathroom, dresses and heads back down the back staircase to the kitchen to grab a bottle of wine and wine glasses. He hurries back upstairs to set up the balcony before Rachel can get out of their shared bathroom.

Finn's breath hitches when he sees Rachel as she walks out to the balcony towel-drying her hair, wearing nothing but a tiny pair of cotton shorts and thin camisole. "I…I thought that maybe you'd like a glass of wine to help unwind." Finn stutters, unable to take his eyes off of her petite body.

Finally looking up, Rachel notices the candles that Finn has lit around the balcony. "Finn, this is the perfect way to unwind after the news that I received earlier today, thank you so much, but you didn't have to do all of this."

"I know that I didn't have to do this, but I wanted to." Finn shrugs with a smile on his face.

Rachel closes the distance between Finn and her and whispers to him, "You are an amazing person, and I feel honored to be able to call you my friend."

"It's nothing, come on let's sit down and watch the sun finish setting." Finn says as he grabs her hand and walks toward the small table.

"I love the beach, this is definitely one of the most spectacular views I've ever seen." Rachel says as she stares out into the ocean, appearing to be lost in her thoughts.

"It sure is," Finn says without ever taking his eyes off of her, "you wanna talk about what's on your mind?"

"It's silly; really I don't want to bother you with my problems." Rachel shrugs.

"I can tell that something is bothering you, and I wish that you felt comfortable enough with me to talk to me about it." Finn tells her with hurt in his voice.

"This is supposed to be a good time and I just don't want to bring you down with my problems." Rachel replies refusing to look at him.

Finn reaches for her hand and squeezes, "Please talk to me, Rachel I don't like to see you upset."

She looks up into his eyes and can tell that he is being sincere, fighting back tears she says, "I'm not ready to go back to New York; Brody embarrassed me by cheating on me with my co-star, all of our friends knew and didn't bother to tell me." Wiping the tears from her eyes she continues, "I'm not hurt any longer; I realize that Brody and I would have never lasted because he was only concerned about his own career and happiness."

"Do you still love him?" Finn can't help but to ask, holding his breath; not sure if he wants to hear her answer.

"No and I'm fairly certain that I hadn't loved him for a while before he broke up with me," dropping her head in her hands, "I was going to marry him, even though I didn't love him. I would have walked down that aisle and said I do, just so I wouldn't be alone."

Finn is totally flabbergasted by Rachel having such a low self-esteem. He stands and walks over and kneels down in front of her, raising her chin up so she is looking straight in his eyes, "Rachel, you are an amazing person, even though we haven't known each other very long I can tell how big your heart is."

"I've been in two serious relationships in my life, and both of them ended with them cheating on me; so I must be doing something wrong." She shrugs.

Finn grabs Rachel's hands and leans in to kiss her, saying right before their lips meet, "If you were mine, I would hold on to you and never let go."

Rachel melts in his arms as she intensifies the kiss, pulling away only to whisper, "I could be yours."

"Yeah; is that a possibility?" Finn asks as he gently kisses her between each word.

"Maybe," She smirks as she wraps her arms around his neck, "are you feeling lucky?'

"Oh I'd definitely say so," he says as he sweeps her up in his arms, walking in her room and laying her down on her bed, "but you tell me, am I lucky?"

She pulls him down by the collar of his shirt, tightly wrapping her legs around his waist pulling his body flush with hers. "I think that I may be the lucky one." She whispers before slipping her tongue in his mouth.

Their bodies are moving as one, each gently caressing the other as they slowly memorize each others body. Finn breaks his lips from Rachel's and whispers, "Are you sure that you want to do this?"

She gazes into his eyes and slides her hand down to the hem of his shirt, slowly pulling it up over his head before she answers, "I've wanted you to make love to me since we spent that night watching fireworks on your terrace."

"I want you so much, Rachel." Finn says as he slowly peels her tank top off of her, exposing her chest to him. "You are so beautiful." He whispers as he lowers his lips on her left breast and starts caressing her right.

"Finn please, I need you." Rachel breathes as she slips her tiny hand in the front of his shorts slowly stroking his erection. "Please make love to me."

"Rach." Finn moans as he reaches for her waist, raising her hips as he slides her shorts over them and down her legs. "God, you are so damn sexy."

"Fiiinnnn, oh God I need you now." Rachel whispers as she pushes his shorts down his legs with her feet, looking into his eyes as she continues to pump him.

"Oh shit, I don't have a condom, Rachel we have to stop!" Finn groans, stopping being the last thing that he wants to do.

"I'm on birth control Finn, I trust you," Rachel assures him, suddenly realizing that maybe this has changed his mind. "I...I mean, if you're still sure?"

Finn not liking the look of self doubt that is on Rachel's face, whispers before he plunges inside of her as slowly as he can, "Oh believe me, I'm sure."

Their bodies moves as one, matching the beats of their hearts; Finn entwines his hands with hers as their lips meld together. Rachel can't remember a time that she has ever felt this alive; the feeling of their bodies connected nearly too much for her to handle and sending her rapidly towards her sweet release. "Oh my…Fiiinnnn!" she screams as she has the most powerful orgasm that she has ever experienced; clenching his shoulders as she pulses around his manhood, causing Finn to release right after her.

Collapsing on the bed beside her and pulling her body flush to his, "You're amazing, I think that I may be falling in love with you." Afraid that his admission may scare her away he tightens his hold on her preventing her to pull away.

"I think that I may be falling in love with you too." Rachel whispers into his chest. "I guess I owe my friends a big thank you for convincing me to move out here."

"Remind me to thank them too." He says as he leans in to place a kiss on the top of her head. While Rachel's breath slows as she starts to fall asleep wrapped in his arms, Finn realizes right then that he would do anything for her. He decides that there is no way in hell she's going to the east coast without him, even if it means having to meet her family.

Finn falls asleep happily with this little woman who was quickly becoming his world in his arms.

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><p>It's nine o'clock in the morning, Sam and Kitty have arrived; and everyone is sitting in the kitchen drinking coffee and talking. "I wonder where Rachel is, she never sleeps this late." Quinn comments.<p>

"Yeah, I'm kinda hungry, I wish she'd come down here and cook us something to eat!" Puck grumbles, "I'm pretty sure that none of us can cook like that little chick."

"First of all, don't let her hear you call her a chick; she will flip out on you and if you make her mad we may all starve." Santana says through gritted teeth.

"Yes, Puckerman quit acting like a caveman! I'm sure she'll be coming down any minute." Kurt adds.

"Uhmm, I don't want to state the obvious here, but has anyone else noticed that Finn is MIA?" Sam asks with a knowing look on his face.

"Well we all know that he can sleep well into the afternoon," Kurt tells Sam totally missing the look on his friends' face, "we all know that he sleeps like a rock."

Shocked that Kurt isn't putting two plus two together, Kitty asks him, "Don't you think that it's pretty odd that Rachel and Finn are still sleeping in?"

"Yeah, since y'all just told us the last time that they were seen they were eye locked in the pool together." Sam smirks.

"Why no, why would that be odd…wait a minute, do you think they may be sleeping in together?" finally the light bulb goes off in Kurt's head.

"Well there's only one way to find out the answer to that question, come on Kurt let's go wake the sleeping beauties." Santana smirks as she links arms with him.

"Oh hell no, I'm not going to miss catching them in the act!" Puck laughs as he follows them up the stairs.

"Oh my God, Rachel is going to kill us all, if they are together!" Quinn says as she follows Puck up the stairs.

Sam turns to look at Brittney and Blaine and asks, "What have we missed?"

"Apparently, we've missed quite a bit considering that we have four grown ass adults running up the stairs hoping to catch Finn and Rachel in the act!" Kitty says with a laugh.

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><p>"Finn, are you still asleep?" Kurt asks as he tries to open Finn's bedroom door. When the unlocked door opens, the group looks in and notices that the king size bed appears to not have been slept in.<p>

"That dog, I knew that he would end up bagging her!" Puck boasts.

"Bagged? Really Puck, what are you like five!" Quinn hisses, wondering if that is how he felt about her.

"No, he just kept saying how they were just friends; I mean they DID just disappear last night." He says with a shrug.

"The door is open," Santana says as she walks out to the balcony. "come on; maybe we can get our answer out here."

All four of them walk out on the balcony and sees the empty wine bottle and turned over glasses on the table. Quinn raises her eyebrow and points to the door off of Rachel's room. "Who's going to be the brave one to go in there to see if they are both in there?"

"I'll go," Santana beams "I want to see Rachel's face when she gets caught. I knew that she felt something for him just by how she handled Lucy."

"Yeah, Rachel isn't someone who would just kiss someone for no reason. She gets too emotionally attached to people to do something like that." Quinn answers matter-of-factly.

"Here goes nothing, Rachel are you…?" Santana asks stopping mid questions as she walks into the room when she sees Rachel entwined in Finn arms. She silently motions for her friends to come look at the peaceful sight.

"Oh sweet Jesus, he looks so happy." Kurt says as he walks back out to the balcony, fighting the tears that were threatening to fall, "I never thought that I would see my brother at such peace ever again."

Puck as crass as ever asks, "Are we going to wake them up and let them know that they are busted…because seriously I'm starving!"

"Puck I'll fix you something to eat, I can cook a little; now come on…let them sleep." Quinn whispers as she slides the door closed behind them and walks back into Finn's room.

"Well, I can't say that I wasn't hoping that would happen; I didn't think that it would happen that fast though. Lucy hurt Finn so badly that I didn't ever think that he'd be able to trust another woman again." Kurt whispers as he closes Finn's bedroom door behind them as they go back downstairs.

* * *

><p>Rachel starts to wake up, confused as to why her pillow is so hard…and breathing; memories of last night flood her mind, she smiles and kisses Finn on the chest.<p>

The feel of her lips on his chest wakes him up, "Good morning beautiful, how did you sleep?"

"Amazing," she bites her lips nervously, afraid of what the answer may be but she has to ask "do you regret it?"

"What….No…why would you ask me that?" Finn angrily asks. "Wait…do you?"

"Oh course not, but look at me Finn I'm not like the girls out here; I don't look like Lucy. You could do so much better than me." She says stumbling over her words.

"Why do you do that?" Finn is totally pissed now, "Rachel, I hope that I showed you last night exactly how I feel about you."

"Like I said last night, I really don't have a good record when it comes to relation…" she stops abruptly since she doesn't know what all of this mean, are they in a relationship or was this meant to be only a one time thing.

"I'm not like those losers, and Rachel it isn't just about the sex for me. I want to be with you; I realize that you may not be ready for a relationship but I will wait for you until you are." He says as he lifts her chin kissing her tenderly on her lips.

"I don't think that I want to wait." She breathes as she returns the tender kiss.

"That is exactly what I was hoping you'd say." Finn whispers as he caresses her face, "And I will be going to the east coast with you next week; I'm not going to sit out here and worry about you the whole time that you guys are out there!"

"I'd love for you to join us; are you going to meet us in New York?" she asks as she runs her fingertips down his chest.

Moaning at her touch, he tells her that he will leave next Monday with them staying with her throughout the whole promotional tour. He tells her that Puck would most likely be joining them for the whole week too.

"What about your firm? You guys have been working so hard to build your clientele; do you think that it's a good idea for two of the senior partners to take a whole week off?" She asks.

"I don't have any upcoming cases on the docket, and I'm pretty sure that Puck doesn't either…Sam can handle the office for a week without us." He says before kissing her again. "Maybe we should head downstairs before they come looking for us!" Finn suggests.

"Yeah, I don't want them to find out about us by catching us in bed together!" Rachel giggles as Finn starts kissing her neck.

"They're all going have to get over it, because I plan on waking up next to you as much as possible from this point on." Finn says as his lips starts trailing down her breast. "Oh baby, you are amazing and I'm so happy that you are allowing me to call you mine." He whispers.

"I still think that I am the lucky one," she whispers as she pulls his lips up to hers, "but we really should head downstairs before they come looking for us." Finally pulling away from his grip and reaching for her bathrobe. "Why don't ya wait a few minutes before you come down?"

"Sure, but I'm not promising you that I will be able to keep my hands or my lips off of you." He whispers as he stands and sweeps her up against his body and places a passionate kiss on her lips.

"Deal," Rachel tells him as she swoons from the effects of his kiss, "See ya downstairs."

"I'll be right down behind you, babe." He says as he finally releases his grip on her.

* * *

><p><strong>Up next, who will break the silence about catching Finchel in bed together, or will they not be able to keep their hands off of each other? Next chapter will be the last day at the beach and then there will be a time jump to their trip to New York! Let me know what you think -Melanie<strong>


	11. Down on the Boardwalk

Down On the Boardwalk

**Okay, I have rethought this chapter like 100 times, so I decided I'd better write it before it changes again. Finn & Rachel has been hanging out in my dreams at night. So without further delay here we go. Again, much thanks and love to Allie and Sara.**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own anything but my errors. Glee belongs to RIB and bunch while the songs used in this chapter belong to New Kids on the Block and Christina Aguilera.**

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><p>Finn wakes up confused for a brief moment of where he is. He feels Rachel cuddle into his chest, memories of last night coming back to him. He bends his head down to place a tender kiss on her hair as he caresses her back. Feeling her stir, he whispers, "Morning baby."<p>

Rachel opens her eyes and locks them with his and smiles, "You stayed?" she asks as she burrows closer to his body, wrapping her leg over his torso.

"Of course I stayed; Rach there is no one else I'd rather wake up next to," Finn says as he pulls her as close to him as possible, "I told you last night that I want to be with you and after spending the day with the bunch scattered around the house today; I have every intention of showing you how much I want you later tonight."

Rachel accepts his lips with hers and whimpers, "Oh God, I can't wait." They lie there for a few more minutes, exploring each others body. "Rach, if we keep doing this, I won't be able to let you out of this bed."

"Well, I don't see a problem with us staying in bed all day." She whispers seductively as she slides her index finger down the length of his manhood.

"You're amazing!" Finn says to her as he rolls her over unto her back and enters her. This morning is such a stark contrast of their slow lovemaking from last night, Finn pumps in and out of her feverishly. She digs her fingernails into his shoulders as he continues assaulting her body. Their bodies are moving fast yet in sync, even with the urgency of their motions, both sharing their love for one another with their eyes.

Rachel wraps her legs around his body as she lets go which causes the chain reaction with his immediately releasing inside of her. "Finn," Rachel says as she gasps for her breath "I could definitely get used to waking up like this every morning." She blushes as she realizes for all that she knows, once they return home that he may not want to be with her. (You know the whole caught in the moment, being surrounded by so many couples.)

Finn senses the change in Rachel's demeanor, he asks as he caresses her cheek, "Hey, what's wrong baby?'

"It is just wrong of me to assume that this is something that will carry over into our real lives; I'm sorry, I have a way of speaking before I think." She says as she tries to hide her face in his chest.

"Wait, what in the hell are you talking about," he didn't mean to curse her but, damn it what is going on in her head right now, "this is real life, Rachel, I've already told you that I want to be with you! I thought that I showed you that last night!"

Rachel finding herself offended by the way he has just spoken to her blurts out, "You just showed me that you wanted to have sex with me!" as she pushes him off of her and sits up on the bed.

Reaching for her so she can't move off of the bed he seethes, "Do you really think that? Rachel, I told you that I felt like I am falling in love with you! And I thought that you felt the same way!" he breathes, "I don't play those kind of games, I have been on the receiving end of those one too many times; I want you to be mine."

Rachel is left speechless, she has never had anyone ever tell her anything like this before, she takes a moment before she finally whispers, "Finn, I've been hurt so many times by men telling me that they love me, just to have my heart broken when they tire of me."

Finn reaches up and wipes the tears that are now tumbling down her cheek, he whispers "Rachel, I have no intentions of hurting you; I feel a connection with you that I have never felt before in my life. Please take a chance on me, because if you walk away from this without giving us a change, I will never be able to un-break my heart again."

Rachel finally believes him leans in to kiss him telling him that she is sorry before her lips meet his. "I want this to work, Finn. I've never felt this way about anyone else before either."

"So, we're going to do this then?" Finn smiles as he wraps his arms around her.

"Yes we are going to do this, now come on we need to get downstairs before they start looking for us." She says with a kiss.

* * *

><p>Finn walks into the kitchen, noticing that the conversation that he could hear as he was coming down the stairs stop. "Morning guys, I hope everyone slept well. Did you have to fight a lot of traffic to get up here this morning, Sam?" he asks as he shakes his hand.<p>

"No we got the fuck out of LA before the crazies could get out on the road." Sam smirks as he looks over Finn's shoulder at Puck. He was just waiting on all of the fun to begin.

"I slept like a baby myself; the question is how did YOU sleep, Finn?" Puck asks as he starts patting Finn on the back.

"I slept better last night than I have in a very long time." Finn answers. He's looking around at his friends and notices that they all are looking at him oddly. "How about everyone else, how did you all sleep?"

Kurt, whose room is located next to Rachel's saw the opportunity to catch Finn states, "Well, I was woken up by Rachel screaming, I wonder if she had a nightmare or something."

"Oh no, I hopes she's okay." Santana says, playing along with Kurt's game.

"Is that what I heard last night? I thought there was a banshee running around on the beach!" Puck adds, smirking at the look on Finn's face "that little chick sure has a set of lungs on her."

"Morning everyone," Rachel says as she sashays into the kitchen, popping a grape in her mouth before continues, "So what are we all going to do today?"

"We all thought that it may be cool to do the tourist thing and hit the boardwalk!" Blaine answers excitedly. "Once your album drops and my show start broadcasting, it may be kinda hard to do that."

"Yeah, you're probably right; it could be fun!" Rachel says before looking around the room at her friends. "If things go as expected, I won't be able to hang out with my friends in public for awhile."

"And why the hell not?" Puck asks, because come on let's face it; it's really cool hanging with their new neighbors. "It'll take more than a bunch of idiots with cameras to keep us away from hanging with our friends."

"Yeah, I've already told Rach that last night!" Finn says before realizing what he has just said.

"You know, when we were outside last night talking on the balcony." Rachel stutters over her words.

"Sure, that is when you talk about it…" Puck says as he walks out of the kitchen, "Let's get ready then and head out."

"Hey Puck, let me holler at you for a sec, will ya?" Finn asks.

"Yeah sure, what'cha need?" he asks.

"What do you think about taking a trip to the east coast for a week or so?" Finn asks with his lopsided grin.

"Let me guess, we leave next Monday?" Puck smirks, "Yeah, I have already told Quinn that we would be going with them."

"Awesome." Finn says as he starts walking up the stairs to his room to get ready to hit the boardwalk.

* * *

><p>They all find themselves at the beach in less than two hours later, "So what do ya'll want to do first?" Kitty asks as she grabs Sam's hand. The group is currently standing in front of a tattoo parlor.<p>

"Why don't we get tattoos? I've wanted one for awhile but Brody forbade me, saying that only floozies got tattoos. Who's with me?" Rachel asks as she skips to the front of the parlor.

"Just don't let Sam pick it out!" Kurt says as everyone but Finn, Puck and Sam laughs.

"Well since none of us graduated from OSU, I don't think Sam could offer us any suggestions." Quinn laughs as she links arms with her cousin as they walk into the parlor.

An hour and a half later, the group walks out with the ladies all sporting the same bandage on their foot. "Okay, ladies we sat with y'all and held your hands while you got your matching tats, so what do you say we hit the bar now?" Puck asks as he grabs Quinn's hand.

"You're just jealous that you aren't a member of our sisterhood." Brittney says as she hugs Santana, "but I could use a couple of drinks."

"Me too, maybe we can find one where karaoke is going on!" Rachel squeals as she links arms with Finn.

"I'm not doing any fucking karaoke, but you guys can entertain us." Puck says with a wink as he stares down at Quinn.

"No seriously…we pick what you guys sing and you can pick what we sing!" Rachel slurs from her perch on Finn's lap.

Smirking at the guys, Finn agrees as he pulls Puck and Sam into a huddle, Kurt and Blaine have been on the stage all evening, currently singing "Secret Lovers" to one another. "Damn I'm glad we decided to walk down to the beach today" Puck slurs before exclaiming, "I've got the perfect song for the chicks to sing!" as he huddles in closer towards the guy so the girls couldn't hear.

"That's perfect!" Sam yells.

"Hell yeah, that will be hot!" Finn boasts at the same time.

* * *

><p>"You've got to be fucking kidding me?" Santana asks once the guys reveal what song they have chosen.<p>

"Oh, you are so going to pay for this!" Rachel boasts as she winks at Finn. The ladies gulp down their drinks before heading toward the stage. Once they get on the stage, the bar breaks out in cat calls and whistles.

"Hey guys, how are you all doing tonight? This song that we are about to sing are for those guys sitting over there!" Rachel says into the mic before they start to sing the song to a loud round of cheers.

All—Come on, come on/ Ohh, woow

Rachel—I feel like I've been locked up tight/ For a century of lonely nights/ Waiting for someone to release me/ You're lickin' your lips/ And blowing kisses my way/ But that don't mean I'm gonna give it away/ Baby, baby, baby (B—Baby, baby, baby…)

Quinn—OOOHHH, my body's sayin' let's go/ OOOHHH, but my heart is sayin' no

Kitty—If you wanna be with me/ Baby there's a price to pay/ I'm a genie in a bottle/ You gotta rub me the right way

Brittney—If you wanna be with me/ I can make your wish come true/ You gotta make a big impression (K—Oh yeah)/ Gotta like what you do

All—I'm a genie in a bottle baby/ Gotta rub me the right way honey/ I'm a genie in a bottle baby/Come come, come on and let me out

Santana—The music's fading and the lights down low/ Just one more dance and then we're good to go

Rachel—Waiting for someone who needs me/ Hormones racing at the speed of light/ But that don't mean it's gotta be tonight

Santana—Baby, Baby, Baby (Q—Baby, baby baby…)

Rachel—OOOHHH, my body's sayin' let's go

All—OOOHHH, but my heat is sayin' no (B—but my heart is sayin' no)

Rachel looks Finn square in his eyes as she sings the next two verses

If you wanna be with me/ Baby there's a price to pay/ I'm a genie in a bottle (All—I'm a genie in a bottle)/ You gotta rub me the right way

If you wanna be with me (All—Ohh)/ I can make your wish come true (Quinn—Your wish come true ohh)/ Just come and set me free baby and I will be with you

All—I'm a genie in a bottle baby/ Gotta rub me the right way honey/ (Rachel—If you wanna be with me); as she continues to look into Finn's eyes./ I'm a genie in a bottle baby/ Come come, come on and let me out

Rachel—ooohhh, my body's sayin' let's go

Kitty—ooohhh, but my heart is sayin' no

Rachel—If you wanna be with me/ I can make your dreams come true/ Just come set me free, baby and I'll be with you

Santana—If you wanna be with me/Baby there's a price to pay/ I'm a genie in a bottle (Kitty—In a bottle baby)/ You gotta rub me the right way

Rachel—If you wanna be with me (Quinn—If you wanna be with me)/ I can make your wish come true/ Just come and set me free baby and I'll be with you

All—I'm a genie in a bottle baby/ Come come, come on and let me out

The girls walk off stage to more cat calls and different guys telling them that they could rub them the right way as they made their way to the guys. Some blonde haired, blue eyed guy grabs Rachel by her arm just as she was about to take a drink from Finn. "Hey sexy, I'd be honored to rub you any way that you want!" Finn really not liking the way this dick has a grip on Rachel's arm walks over to him and tells him to get his hands the fuck off of his girl. Finn is now flanked on each side by Puck and Sam as he pulls Rachel in his arms. Finn and the douche are in the middle of a staring contest when Rachel looks up at Finn and tells him to come on back to the table, ensuring him that she definitely isn't interested in this guy.

After finally making their way back to the table, Rachel sits on Finn's lap and leans over into his ear and whispers, "You are the only person who I want to rub me anyway," as she pulls his earlobe in between her teeth. "Are you guys ready to entertain us now?"

With a waggle of his eyebrows, Finn offers to take her back to the house to entertain her. Rachel laughs and promises him later, but only after the guys performs the song that the girls have picked for them to sing.

"Are we really gonna fucking sing this stupid song?" Puck seethes at Finn. Finn reminds Puck that they did make a bet with the girls, and they lived up to it so they had to also.

"Oh boys, we expect the whole boy band experience with this song!" Quinn says as she and the other ladies starts walking toward the front of the stage.

"Oh fuck, what have we gotten ourselves into?" Sam asks as he steps up on the stage beside Finn, Puck and Blaine.

"Okay, now it's our time to pay off our bet; ladies this is for you!" Finn says into the mic as he looks into Rachel's eyes.

Finn—The right stuff

Puck—The right stuff

Finn—First time was a great time/ Second time was a blast/ Third time I fell in love/ Now I hope it lasts/ I can see it in your walk/ Tell 'em when you talk/ See it in everything you do/ Even in your thoughts

Puck—You got the right stuff, baby/ Love the way you turn me on/ You got the right stuff, baby/ You're the reason why I sing this song

Sam—All that I needed was you/ Oh girl, you're so righ/ Said all that I wanted was you/ You made all of my dreams come true

All—Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh

Oh, oh, oh, oh

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh

The right stuff

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh

Oh, oh, oh, oh

Finn—Your first kiss was a sweet kiss/ Second kiss had a twist/ Third and your fourth kiss/ I don't want to miss/ I can see it in your walk/ Tell 'em when you talk/ See it in everything you do/ Even in your thoughts

Blaine—You got the right stuff, baby/Love the way you turn me on/ You got the right stuff, baby/ You're the reason why I sing this song

Finn—All that I needed was you/Oh, girl, you're so right/ Said all that I wanted was you/ You made all…Every one of my dreams come true

All—Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh

Oh, oh, oh, oh

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh

The right stuff

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh

Oh, oh, oh, oh

The right stuff

Puck—The right stuff, girl yeah baby, yeah/ You know you got the right stuff/And girl, yeah, Baby/ You know, you know you got it, girl

Finn—In my life you're so right/ You made all…you know what you did

Finn and Puck walks off stage wrapping their arms around Rachel and Quinn as Sam and Blaine finishes the chorus.

"All that I have to say is that you girls better be glad that we like you!" Puck says as he pulls Quinn back into his lap once they make it back to the table.

"You know it's because you love us, Puck!" Rachel smirks as she feels Finn's arms wrap around her waist and pulls her closer into her body.

Finn leans down and whispers into Rachel's ear, "Girl you know its true." before he places a tender kiss at that special place under her ear that he found last night.

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><p><strong>So I decided instead of having the whole "are you two together or not" debate that Finn and Rachel could just show the others that they were together with their actions. There will be a tiny time jump, in the next chapter they will be heading to the east coast… and to another group of problems. I so can see Finn as Jordan and Puck as Donnie. Hope that you enjoyed this chapter…until next time read and review and let me know what you think. Much love, Melanie<strong>


	12. Love from Coast to Coast

**AN: Are you ready for our group to head to the east coast, and certainly trouble? Again I must say a huge thank you to my amazing support group Allie, Sara, and Erica; if it wasn't for our little twitter talks I'd would have already lost my mind.**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own glee or any of the songs that I choose to use. All errors are mine. Flashbacks will be in italics.**

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><p>Love from Coast to Coast<p>

5:30 AM is way too early to be going through security at LAX; but here is where the group finds themselves. Once they make it through the line; Puck and Finn offers to go get the girls some coffee while they wait to board their plane heading toward Baltimore/Washington international airport.

"Why are you so quiet, Finn?" Puck asks as he hands the carrying tray that's holding Rachel's, Brittney's and his coffees before grabbing the one with Quinn's, Santana's and his.

"You do realize in five hours or so that we will be meeting Rachel's and father, right?" Finn nervously asks "You know that I don't do parents well."

"Its fine, Q told me that Rachel's father's main concern is Rachel's happiness." Puck shrugs.

"I'm just scared that he won't think that I'm good enough for her and try to convince her to leave me. Puck, I can't loose her; I love her too much." Finn says before realizing that he has just told Puck that he loves Rachel. But he doesn't get the kind of response that he was bracing himself for.

"We all know how you feel for her; and her dad's not going to think that you're not good enough, damn bro, you are a senior partner at a major law firm in Los Angeles…and for the record; she wouldn't listen to him." Puck smirks as he starts walking back to the girls. The group sits in silence waiting to be called to board their private jet. Each one in their own thoughts (remember it's only six in the morning or so and they aren't fully awake just yet.)

Rachel steals a look at Finn as she reminisces about the last week; waking up in his arms every morning and their time together. She thinks back to the night that she knew that she was in love…

"_Hey babe; something smells awesome" Finn says when he walks into his kitchen and pulls her into a kiss. "I missed you today." He tells her before heading to his home office to place his briefcase in there. _

_Rachel meets him at the door to his office; "It'll still be a little while before dinner's ready," she tells him as she pulls him down by his tie to place a sizzling kiss on his lips; "whatever should we do while we wait?" she asks with a bat of her eyes._

_Lifting her up by her waist and placing her on his desk, he whispers "Oh I can think of a way to pass the time," before attaching his lips to her neck._

"_Oohh…this is new!" she squeals as she wraps her legs around his hips, pulling him into her._

"Hey Rachel, they're calling us to our gate. Are you okay?" Santana asks pulling Rachel out of her daydream.

"Perfect" she answers as she reaches for Finn's hand and telling him "I'm so happy that all of you were able to come with me."

On the plane Rachel warns Finn, Puck, and Brittney to prepare themselves for the mob of paparazzi that she assumes will be staking out BWI since the radio station has been announcing her performance at the school tonight. With another quick apology she tells them that they were staying in their old apartment that's just down the street from the old school.

Quinn then informs everyone that as soon as they wake up in the morning that they're heading to Ocean City where they have rented the top floor of one of the hotels on the beach (come on, they're all sexually active adults, who wants to stay at their parent's house?)

Santana pipes in that only one performance was scheduled there so they could have a few days to chill before heading to New York City. Rachel has purposely scheduled both of her New York City performances (one live and one taped) for the same day since she has no plans of spending one night in New York City.

Half-way through the flight, Finn asks Rachel "Are you excited? This will be the first time anyone has heard these songs."

"Yes and No; I'm excited to perform for my fans and see my family but, I am really dreading New York and all of the paparazzi." She honestly tells him.

"You don't have worry about either Rach…Puck and I will be right with you three the whole time." Finn tells her as he pulls her into a tighter hug.

"I know but your face will be all over the tabloids come tomorrow morning; what are your clients going to think?" She asks seriously.

"That Puck and I are very lucky to call such beautiful women ours." He shrugs and kisses her forehead. "Quit worrying about it babe; it's all going to be alright." He assures her.

The private jet has landed and the runway has been cleared so our gang can get off of the jet. As soon as the door opens for them to walk into the airport; cameras start flashing and microphones are thrust into Rachel's face. After a brief prepared statement was given from Quinn, Airport security helps them retrieve their luggage and escorts them out to their awaiting limousine.

It's one o'clock on the east coast and Rachel is scheduled to be at the performance arts school at four to speak to the local personalities Cory and Mark before performing a couple of her new songs. Quinn instructs the driver to take them to their apartment so they can relax a little while before heading to the show. Once the luggage is unloaded, the group walks past the doorman straight for the elevator. The higher the elevator rose the more nervous Finn becomes. He leans in and whispers in Rachel's ear. "Is your dad here or is he staying in Ocean City?"

"He said that he might meet us here, but promised to get a hotel room; so I'm not sure. I've told you that he'll love you, stop worrying." She says giving him a light kiss on his lips as the elevator doors open.

"Rachel, Quinn, Santana; sorry I couldn't wait any longer to see my girls." Hiram Berry says as his eyes lands on Finn, Puck and Brittney, "Let me see…Finn, Puck and Brittney I presume." He adds as he gestures to the correct person with each name.

Finn puts Rachel's luggage down, extends his hand and answers, "I'm Finn Hudson, it's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Berry."

Hiram pushes away Finn's hand and hugs him instead, "I've been looking forward to meeting you Finn and please call me Hiram." After formal introductions of Puck and Brittney, everyone walks into the apartment and sits in the living room just carrying on a casual conversation.

"Quinn speaks up "I don't want to be the party pooper but Rachel we need to head to the school soon."

"Okay, come on Tana; come do your magic on me." Rachel says as she pulls her stylist off of the loveseat that she's sharing with Brittney.

The rest continue talking for a few more minutes before Hiram tells them that he needs to go to his hotel room to get ready. With promises from Finn and Quinn that he will have a front row seat at the performance, he leaves telling them that he'd see them soon.

Finn and Puck; naturally, are finished getting ready way before any of the women so they sit down to catch a few minutes of the Baltimore Orioles game. Santana comes out of the bedroom first telling the guys that their dates were ready. Both guys stand up and turn toward the bedroom door. Brittney is the first to walk out, and boy does she look amazing and she was only going to be sitting in the audience. Finn and Puck both notice that she and Santana actually match.

"Doesn't my woman look amazing?" Santana asks as she grabs Brittney's arm and twirls her around for the guys to see her whole dress.

"Yeah, Britt you look gorgeous." Puck tells her but he really wants to scream that he was only interested in seeing what Quinn looks like. He already knows that she's wearing blue since she had laid out a blue tie for him to wear. Sure enough, Quinn walks out of the room in a gorgeous blue gown that matches his tie exactly. When Puck sees her, he has to remind himself to breathe. "Quinn, you look like a Greek Goddess." He whispers as he takes her hand.

"And now, time for the lady of the hour…our star, Rachel Barbra Berry." Santana says as Rachel walks out of the room.

Finn honest to God feels like he's going to faint…Rachel is a gorgeous woman when she wakes up; but the sight in front of him causes his heart to beat rapidly, "Baby, you look so beautiful. Are you sure that you want me to walk you down the red carpet?" Finn asks as he adjusted his emerald tie that matches her tiny dress.

"Absolutely, there is no one else in the world that I would rather be with." She tells him before she reaches up to kiss him before taking his hand. "But are you ready for all of the flashbulbs and questions?"

"All I have to say about that is, bring it!" Finn smirks as he entwines his fingers through hers.

As the limousine pulls up to the front of the Baltimore School for the Arts, Rachel squeezes Finn's hand and asks him one more time if he is sure that he wants to walk the carpet with her. Finn kisses her lightly and tells her that he hasn't been this sure of anything before in his life. Cameras start flashing as soon as the valet helps Brittney out of the limo and they continue flashing until Finn reaches for Rachel's hand for her to get out of the limo. Rachel loops her arm through Finn as she starts walking the carpet, she makes sure to stop and pose every few steps for the cameras. This usually is the one part of her career that she hated; but tonight being on Finn's arm felt so much better.

Once inside, Santana starts to sweep Rachel up to the DJ booth that Cory and Mark has set up as a portable studio. Rachel pulls out of Santana's grasp and reaches up and kisses Finn and promises that she will be counting the minutes before she can be by his side again. Finn whispers into her ear to break a leg and that he loves her with all of his heart.

After spending an hour speaking on the air with Cory and Mark, Rachel is ushered backstage to get ready for her performance. Santana already in Rachel's dressing room ready to assist her in getting into her dress, pulling her hair up into a messy bun and freshens up her make-up. "Alright star, are you ready to amaze a packed house?" With a nod Rachel walks out the door to stand in the wing. After the announcer notices that she was waiting, he went up on the stage and introduces the most famous alumni of their school, Rachel Berry.

Rachel delicately walks out to the center of the stage before saying a few words to the packed house finishing her speech by telling them that she couldn't think of any other place that she would want to debut her new songs. "This song is the first single off of my new album. When I wrote this song it was about something that I really wanted in a relationship and now I'm proud to say that I found it…Finn, baby this song's for you…

We are Broken/ we can't fix it/ There's no cure for our condition/ desperate eyes are staring at me/ should be hopeless, but we're happy/ It's not perfect here between us/ Even angels have their demons/ Trapped inside this twisted circle/ it ain't right but its eternal/ There's a white light/ and it's calling me/ and it's promising ecstasy but/ I don't wanna go to heaven if you're going to hell/ I will burn with you/ I will burn with you.

We're not healthy/ Barely breathing/ But this pain keeps my heart beating/ We are lost when we're together/ But I will follow you forever/ There's a white light/ and it's calling me/ and it's promising ecstasy but/ I don't wanna go to heaven if your going to hell/ I will burn with you / I will burn with you/ I will burn with you.

I don't wanna dream without you/ I don't wanna breathe without you/ I'll do anything you want me to/ 'cause I know you'll burn with me too/ burn with me too/ There's a white light and its calling me/ I don't wanna go to heaven if your going to hell/ I'll burn with you/ I'll burn with you.

I don't wanna dream without you/ I don't wanna breathe without you/ I'll do anything you and me to / 'cause I know you'll burn with me too. / There's a white light and its calling.

After Rachel received a standing ovation, she continued with the other songs that she has prepared to sing. After the curtain call, Rachel hurries to her dressing room to get ready to leave the school because the only thing that she can think of is how much she needs to be in Finn's arms. She hears a soft knock on the door, assuming it is Santana to help her out of her stage costume she is shocked to see who is standing on the other side of the door…

"Jessie" was all that she could mutter; she stands at the door in total shock.

"Well hello, Rachel, I heard that you were coming home and I just had to hear that beautiful voice of yours." Jessie tells her as he pushes his way through her dressing room door.

Rachel finds her bearings, she snears "What are you doing here? And what are you doing back here?"

"I wanted to come see my high school sweetheart, I didn't see any harm in that." He smirks.

"Yes, the high school sweetheart that you cheated on with our teacher; again I ask what do you want? I want you to leave now before I call security." She huffs.

"Oh come on Rachel baby; aren't you ever going to forgive me and give me another chance?" he asks as he attempts to pull her in a hug.

"Get your fucking hands off of her!" Santana says as she comes into the dressing room.

"Jessie, you need to leave NOW!" Quinn tells the cocky man.

"Awww, how sweet Quinnie; I see that you are still very protective over your little cousin. Rachel's a big girl and she can make her own choices now." He smirks as he attempts once again to hug Rachel.

"You are right, I can make my own choices, and I have already asked you to leave. You are not welcome here." Rachel boasts just as Finn and Puck walks into the dressing room.

"This is your last chance with me Rachel; I'm going places and it would be good for your career to be seen with me." He smirks, unaware that the guys are in the room.

"Uhm, that won't be happening dude, she asked you to leave." Finn startles Jessie.

Jessie turns around to confront the voice behind him just to be met by Finn's chest, "I'm sorry but this is a private conversation. Finn pushes Jessie to the side and walks over to Rachel and wraps his arms around her tiny frame.

"Jessie; allow me to introduce you to my boyfriend, Finn Hudson." Rachel smirks as she leans into Finn's frame.

"And I really suggest that you get the fuck out of here like the ladies asked before I remove you myself." Puck says as he walks over to stand beside Quinn.

"I'm leaving; but who would have thought THE Rachel Berry and Quinn Fabray would end up with nobodies? Okay Rachel don't come crawling to me once things go awry with your play toy." He smirks as he starts to walk out of the room.

"Don't let the door hit you in the ass as you go." Rachel calls as she closes the door behind him.

"WOW, that dude is a bigger diva than you are, Berry." Puck says with a chuckle.

"I'm so sorry that you guys had to witness that, I wasn't expecting him to be the one at the door." Rachel whispers as she looks up into Finn's face.

"You didn't do anything wrong babe; I'm just happy that we decided to come on back here instead of waiting out front for you." Finn tells her before kissing her on the top of her head.

"Come on Rachel; let's go get you ready so we can go out to dinner." Quinn tells her cousin as she pushes her toward the enclosed changing room. Turning to look at Finn and Puck she tells them that they will be right out.

"Hey dude, are you alright?" Puck asks his unusually quiet best friend.

"What if that Jessie dude is right, what if I'm not good enough for her?" Finn questions his friend.

"You do know that tiny diva has falling in love with you, right?" Puck says as he pats Finn on his back.

"I know that she says that she has and I know that I love her; but do I deserve her?" Finn asks.

Rachel overhearing the question flips out and angrily replies, "Have I given you any reason to doubt how I feel about you? Have I ever made you feel like you weren't good enough for me? Just how shallow do you think I am Finn?"

"Rachel! Please stop and hear me out." Finn pleas as he reaches for her arm to stop her from leaving the dressing room.

"Get your hands off of me! We will talk about this later; my father is waiting on us so we can go to dinner." She snaps as she jerks her arm out of his grip.

"Fine, I'll meet you back at your apartment, see you when you get back." He snaps as he heads for the door.

"Finn if you walk out of that door and not go with us to dinner; then we won't have anything to discuss." She whispers with tears in her eyes.

"Come on dude, let's go to dinner and then you two can talk." Puck tells Finn before he grabs Quinn's hand and walks out the door.

"After you Rach." Finn says as he gestures towards the door. He knows that there will be more paparazzi outside waiting of her and he doesn't want to give them any negative things to write about. He loves this beautiful woman and he will not give up without a fight.

After meeting up with Rachel's dad, the group heads to the side door to their waiting limousine. Finn places his hand on Rachel's back as they walk out in the sea of flashes.

After a wonderful dinner, they are all sitting around the table enjoying a quaint conversation (nope, Rachel hasn't spoken more than a response to Finn since the argument); Hiram pays the check and bids the young couples goodbye before hailing a taxicab.

The tension between Rachel and Finn is so thick, that everyone in the limo can taste it. Santana; always the brave one, speaks up, "Are you two going to continue to act like children or are you actually going to talk to one another?"

"Not now Santana. This is none of your business." Rachel tells her stylist curtly.

"The fuck it ain't! This bullshit has fucked this night up for all of us!" Puck growls at her.

"Puck; don't talk to her like that; and Rachel and I will talk about this when we get back to the apartment." Finn replies, effectively ending the bickering.

* * *

><p>Back at the apartment; everyone scatters leaving Finn and Rachel in the living room alone. Rachel thinks that this apartment sure in the hell didn't seem this big when they were living here going to school. Finn's the first to talk, "So are you going to listen to me now?"<p>

"Finn, I heard what you said. It angers me that you think so little of yourself, for one; and apparently you don't have much faith in me either." Rachel tells Finn as she sits as far away from him as she can.

"Rachel, I love you and you know that, and I know that you love me too;" Finn tells her as he stands up and walks over to where she is sitting, "for now."

"See…see Finn, that's what I'm talking about. What do you mean by that?" She sobs. Her heart is broken. She can't believe that she had allowed herself to fall in love just to have her heart shattered again.

"I can see the articles now, Rachel Berry is slumming it with a nobody from LA." He shrugs.

"Finn you are definitely not a nobody, and since when are you so worried about the tabloids?" Rachel asks through her tears.

"I'm not worried about the tabloids for me; I'm worried about what the bad press can do to your career." He answers.

Rachel has now became livid, she stands up and slaps Finn across the face before she screams, "What the hell is wrong with you? Finn I love you more than I have anyone ever in my life. I feel a connection with you that I have never felt before. It kills me to be away from you while you're at work, how do you expect me to live my life without you in it?"

"Rachel, I'm not breaking up with you. I was just expressing my feelings to Puck; and for the record, I can't imagine my life without you either." He answers as he rubs the jaw that she had slapped. Finn wraps his arms around her waist and leans down and kisses her with all of the feelings that he can find to express just how much she means to him.

Trying to catch her breath she whispers, "Finn, you have to stop doubting yourself. I am honored to call you mine and you are the only person that I want by my side."

"I'm sorry baby; I just need you to know that not for a minute did I doubt your love for me." He whispers before placing a tender kiss on her waiting lips.

"I do love you and there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that you love me. Quit thinking that you aren't good enough for me because if we are being honest, I'm probably not good enough for you." She tells him as she leads him into her bedroom.

* * *

><p>It's eight in the morning when the group finds themselves climbing into the rented SUV. After a quick stop to pick up Hiram at the hotel they're on their way to Ocean City for another performance and a few days to relax. Half way through the three hour trip Puck and Finn switches places; which also meant that Rachel and Quinn change places also. Hiram, who has been catching up with his girls, finds the switch in the seating arrangements a perfect time to ask Santana about the atmosphere at the restaurant last night.<p>

"Well daddy Berry, Rachel will kill me if she finds out that I'm telling you this but; Jessie showed up backstage last night and after he left she overheard Finn telling Puck that he may not be good enough for her." Santana tells her second dad.

"Why would he think that? He's perfect for her. I'm her father and I fell in love with him the moment that I met him at the elevator door. Anyone with a set of eyes can see how much he loves my Rachel." He whispers as to ensure that Rachel doesn't overhear him.

"I know, he has a very low self esteem; which I don't understand considering that his law firm is the most prestigious one in Los Angeles." She shrugs.

"Well, I hope that they worked thinks out because I think that he may be the one." Hiram says as he sits back into his seat.

"Oh believe me from what I heard last night coming from her bedroom; they're fine." Santana mutters so Hiram can't hear her.

The SUV was relatively quiet the rest of the way to the beach. Quinn and Rachel were sleeping and Santana and Brittney were in a conversation with Hiram which just left Puck and Finn in their own thoughts.

* * *

><p>After dropping Hiram at his house, with a promise that they would return later when Quinn's parents arrived; they headed to their hotel. Since Rachel's performance was scheduled for tomorrow afternoon, they decide to just hang out in their rooms and relax before heading back to the Berry residence. Rachel is currently taking a shower and Finn is standing out of the balcony overlooking the beach. Finn is heading back into the room when he feels his phone vibrate. He left strict instructions to Sam to not call unless it was an extreme emergency so he grabs his phone out of his pocket and answers without looking at the caller id.<p>

"Hey there, hot stuff! Have you been thinking of me as much as I have of you?" the caller asks.

Angry that she has found out his new phone number and the fact that she has the nerve to call him, "What do you want Lucy?"

"Oh come on Finn, I figured that you'd came to your senses and dumped that midget, and I want to give you one last chance to be with me again." She flirts.

"Not going to happen; I'm in love with Rachel and she is the only woman that I want to be with. Do not call me again." He replies before hitting the disconnect button of his phone. Immediately he calls his provider and requests yet again a new cell phone number.

"Who was that babe?" Rachel asks when Finn hangs up his phone.

"I just called to have my cell number change because Lucy just called me." He tells her as he crosses the room to stand in front of her.

"What did she want?" an agitated Rachel asks.

"She wants to be with me. I told her that in no way was that going happen. I let her know that I have found the person that I want to spend my life with." He tells her before kissing her.

"I love you so much." She whispers as she stands on her tip toes to kiss him again.

"I love you more." He smirks.

* * *

><p>Rachel is so late. She was supposed to be at the Pavilion an hour ago. With Finn in tow (yeah he kind of refused to let her go without him) she runs up to the producer of the show, "Oh God John, I'm so sorry. We spent the evening at my father's house way too late last night. I'll be ready in five minutes." Rachel sputters, not giving John a chance to answer.<p>

John just chuckles at her before telling her that she is the show, and as long as she wasn't late for the performance that everything is okay. He turns to Finn, "Hi, I'm John and I assume that you are Finn."

"Hey John, yeah I'm Finn Hudson." Finn tells him as he shakes the producer's hand.

"God I've missed working with her. She was always my best student." John tells Finn.

"You were one of her teachers?" Finn asks puzzled.

"Yes I was, and I when I found out that she was coming home to perform a couple of songs, I called the production company and told them that I wanted to come out of retirement and produce it," John solemnly tells Finn "after she lost her father; she lost her voice. She just quit singing. She hadn't sung in months, until that douche broke her heart. When that happened, I found her in the auditorium finally letting go of all the hurt that she felt."

Finn tells John that Quinn had told him about how hard of a time that Rachel had after losing her dad and finding out about Jessie's infidelity. He feels inclined to assure her former teacher that he didn't have to worry about that ever happening to her again.

"I know, I can tell just by the way that you have been looking at her since she's been on that stage. She is very lucky to have found you son; and I am ecstatic that she found has." The caring producer tells him before he excuses himself and walks to the stage to start the walk through.

Rachel's performance is flawless. She addresses the crowd, "I want to thank you all for coming out and I must thank my wonderful friends for always being here in case I fall. And my Finn, thank you for loving me as much as I love you. Thank you Ocean City for coming out tonight, it feels so good to be home."

Finn leads their small group through security to meet Rachel at the foot of the steps that led up to the stage. As soon as Rachel's feet hit the ground she finds herself engulfed by her friend's arms. Once she is able to break away she tells them all how happy she is to have them in her life.

"Rachel, you were amazing up there. Are you sure that you don't want to tour now?" Santana jokes.

"Hell no, I want to spend the next two days visiting our family and relaxing; getting New York City out of the way and going home." She answers as she wraps her arms around Finn's torso.

* * *

><p>Leaving Rachel a note on the bedside table, Finn grabs the keycard and heads for the pool area. The elevator doors open to cameras flashing and 'reporters' throwing questions at him. He answers no comment and pushes his way through the sea of leeches and makes his way to the front desk. After speaking his mind to the attendant about the scene that the young man seemed oblivious of, he spots the tabloids on the counter. Grabbing the one from the top of the stack, he heads towards the stairs to climb back up to their room.<p>

He opens the door to Rachel and Quinn sitting in the living area. "Good morning ladies." Finn says as he bends down and kisses Rachel on top of her head.

"Morning baby, I thought that you were going to go for a swim?" Rachel questions.

"I was met at the elevator by a bunch of reporters, and found a stack of these on the counter so I just wanted to get back up here to you." Finn answers as he tosses the tabloid on the table.

"Damn we all look good!" Quinn smirks.

"We sure do. Finn I warned you that this was going to happen before we left home." A confused Rachel tells him.

"I know, and I'm not angry about all of this, I know that this is just a part of being in love with a superstar. But, that picture was taken outside last night and not one of us seen any of them!" He replies.

"They are sneaky Finn. We aren't going to see them every time." Quinn tells him.

"I know, I'm freaking out; but Jessie has already found her, who else is going to show up?" He asks.

"Finn, I don't normally have security but I have already called the promotion company and requested that I have security in New York. I promise no more surprises." Rachel tells the man that she loves, rubbing his back gently.

"Good, because I hate that I can't protect you myself. I feel better knowing that you will have security there." He tells her in a much more relaxed voice.

* * *

><p>It's the last night in Ocean City and the couples decide to go their own way. Puck and Quinn were heading to the boardwalk and dinner, Santana and Brittney were gonna to catch a movie at the male (hey, it's the only place that Tana knows where it's located; remember she's not from Ocean City.) Rachel and Finn decide to order room service and take a stroll on the beach afterwards.<p>

Finn and Rachel's pictures are all over the local papers and tabloids and all they want is some alone time together. After enjoying a candle lit dinner in their room, they grab a blanket and heads down to the beach. They walk hand in hand silently along the shoreline; Rachel hasn't felt this at peace in years.

"This seems like a good place to watch the sunset Rach." Finn tells her as he pulls her out of her thoughts and up on the beach.

"Perfect." She whispers as she lays out the blanket for them to sit on. Finn reaches up and pulls Rachel down on the blanket with him.

"The sunset is beautiful tonight." Rachel whispers in his ear before kissing him right under his earlobe.

"Oh baby, the sunset is definitely not the most beautiful thing that I see right now." He says lovingly before giving her a passionate kiss.

Uncaring if they were caught, Rachel straddles Finn's lap and deepens the kiss. She only pulls always long enough to ask, "Have you ever made love on a beach before?" She doesn't give him a chance to answer; she gazes into his eyes and reaches for the hem of his tee shirt.

"Are…Are you sure?" he asks as he gently pulls her body into his, grinding his erection into her sweet bundle.

"Oh yes." She purrs as she starts loosen his belt.

He attaches his lips to hers as he rolls them over. With a lovingly glare at his goddess that is spread underneath him he whispers, "I can't believe that you are mine."

Rachel rises up just enough to remove her camisole, whispers to him that she's the lucky one. Between passionate kisses and whispers of love, they gently remove the rest of each others clothes. Finn enters her oh so tenderly as he whispers his love; with their hands entwined and their bodies becoming one as the slowly make love. "You complete me baby." Finn tells her as he continues to push into her body.

As she meets thrust for thrust she whimpers, "I can't imagine my life without you in it." Full of passion and desire, the couple reaches their sweet release together.

After lying in each others arms for only a few brief moments, Finn realizes that they are on a public beach, "Maybe we should get dressed and head back to our room; I'd hate for the paps to catch us like this" he smirks. She agrees with him and quickly the couple dresses and heads back to their room.

Once they return to the room, the couple enjoys another round of lovemaking in the shower. Finn is drying Rachel's body off when le looks in her eyes and tells her, "I know that we haven't been together four long, but I feel a connection with you that I know that I can't do without."

"Me too," she whispers as she pulls him down into another passionate kiss, "I think that you're stuck with me."

"Thank Grilled Chessus, because I KNOW that you are stuck with me." He replies before sweeping her up bridal style and heads toward their bed.

* * *

><p>The next morning the group once again finds themselves going through security to load another private plane. Once they board the plane and are preparing for takeoff, Santana notices that Rachel has been extremely quiet; tapping her on her shoulder she asks her if she's alright. Rachel assures her that she is fine, just a little nervous about performing in New York City. She then adds that she can't wait to head back home later that night.<p>

Rachel totally shocked about her revelation, looks to her right at the gorgeous man that sitting beside her and resolves that yes, Los Angeles is definitely her home because of him.

Rachel keeps pacing the small stage at the small music hall after her final rehearsal. Her show is scheduled to start in three hours. Nervous of having an encounter with Brody, she is relieved to know that in less than five hours they would be on their way home.

Finn and Puck walk out from the back to tell Rachel that Santana is ready for her. She kisses Finn and thanks them before walking back to the tiny dressing room. Finn and Puck grabs a beer and sits down at the table in front of the stage. The best friends as so engrossed into their conversation, that they didn't hear the door open.

"Excuse me but shouldn't you be getting the bar ready for the show?" the man smirks, assuming that Finn and Puck were employees.

"Fuck no…we don't work here, and who in the hell are you anyways, the doors aren't even open yet." Puck sneers.

"I'm Brody Weston, I don't have to wait for the doors to open' the star of the show is my ex-fiancée. He smirks.

Finn stiffens at the sound of the man's name, "Ex is the keyword, dude. Rachel doesn't want to see you." Finn growls

"Oh you must be her security…should you be drinking on the job?" Brody questions as he starts to walk back stage only to be stopped by Finn grabbing his arm (so what if Brody has bruises later) "I said that my girlfriend doesn't want to see you."

"Rachel can tell me that for herself. Now remove your hands off of me." Brody replies trying to wiggle his arm out of Finn's grasp.

"Hey pretty boy, sit your ass down and I'll let Q know that you're here." Puck speaks up because he can see the anger seeping from Finn (and angry Finn is NOT someone to mess with.)

"Fine, but I'm sure that she'll want to see me." Brody answers as he takes a seat at the table opposite of the one that Finn occupies. Puck sends a quick text to Quinn letting her know of Rachel's quest. Puck doesn't even have time to place his phone on the table before his phone beeps with a text from Quinn saying for them to make him leave. He shows the text to Finn and Brody and shrugs, "Dude you gotta go."

Brody tells Puck that he isn't going anywhere until he can speak to Rachel. Finn jumps up out of his chair and grabs Brody by his throat before seething, "You can leave on your own or with my help."

Quinn hears the commotion, as she sends out a text to the hired security; she heads out front. "Finn, put him down!" she demands as she motions the guards to come over. "Please escort him out of here and make sure that he doesn't show up here again." Quinn orders.

Brody tries to plea with Quinn to allow him to see Rachel. He keeps repeating that he knows that Rachel still loves him and he knows that he mad a mistake. To no avail, Quinn stands firm. Just before the guards start to remove Brody from the premises, Rachel comes out for the back, "Wait, I have something to say before you kick him out," she boasts as she walks over to a now standing Finn. "Brody, your cheating on me was the best thing that you could have ever done for me. You know why? Because I moved to LA and found this man, and the feelings that I have for him are a hundred times stronger than any that I ever felt for you." As she slides her arm through Finn's she continues, "I can't hate you because I found Finn because of your infidelity but I don't ever want to see your face again. Goodbye Brody."

Brody isn't even given the opportunity to answer because as soon as Rachel stops talking the guards led him to the door.

Once again after another flawless performance, the group finds themselves on another airplane heading home.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Okay, enough of all the intrusions on our favorite couple's love affair. There will be a time jump of a couple of months in the next chapter. I'm thinking that the next chapter will find us around Christmas time. Hope that you are still enjoying this story. Please read and review. <strong>


	13. Christmas in Lima Part 1

Christmas in Lima

AN: I promise that I haven't deserted this story. I've just been busy being a mom and trying to get things ready for Christmas. Much love and thanks to my twitter support group, love your support and friendships. Flashbacks are in italics.

Disclaimer: The only things that I own are the plot and the errors and a few people along the way. Anyway here we go, I hope that you enjoy.

* * *

><p>"Hey mom." Finn answers his cell phone.<p>

"Hi baby, are you too busy to talk?" Carole asks her son.

"No, I'm working from home today; I need a break anyway, what's up?" He asks as he walks out of his office and into the kitchen to grab a bottle of water.

"Well, as you know congress has closed its session, so we're going to spend the holidays in Lima and we would for our boys to come home." She chirps.

"Well, uhm…" Finn says before being cut off by his mom.

"And, of course Rachel and Blaine are welcome to come also, it may do her some good to get out of LA for awhile." Carole tells her son.

"I'll let you know in a few days, I need to see if Sam can handle the office since Puck has already made plans to take Quinn to Lima to meet his mom and Sarah." He tells her.

"Oh, I hope that you all can come, invite Santana and Brittney too; I'm sure Brittney's parents would love to see her." Carole adds

"Well if I can get Sam and Kitty to show Rach's house if anyone wants to tour it; we need to get it sold." Finn says bitterly.

_Finn and Rachel were heading back home from a relaxing weekend in Malibu; when Finn was pulling up to the guard shack and notices several media vans surrounding Rachel's house. _

"_What the hell? Why are all of those parasites parked in front of her home? Have you been sleeping again?" Finn sneers at the guard on duty._

"_No…No sir, they are signed in as Mr. Master's guest. ..thought that he was having a party with the media." The guard stutters._

"_And you didn't notice that they aren't at Master's house?" Finn growls at the frightened guard._

"_Baby, let's just go to your house and we'll call the police to get rid of them." Rachel tells Finn, placing her hand on his arm to try to calm him down._

"_Fine." He tells her as he pulls through the gate. Finn pulls into his garage as the cameras start flashing; they figured out real quick that the handsome lawyer that had stolen Rachel's heart lived next door. Finally secure in his garage Finn looks at his visibly nervous girlfriend and tells her "We need to move; please move in with me and sell your house and we'll find one together."_

"_What about Blaine? Quinn? Tana?" Rachel, who is very excited at the thought of living with Finn full time asks, since you know they did all pick up and move across the country with her._

"_Quinn is pretty much living with Puck; Blaine's at my house more than yours anyway; and as far as Santana, she has been staying with Britt." He honestly answers._

"_I know, but what if…"she isn't able to finish her sentence._

"_Ain't happening, you and I are going to be together for the rest of our lives." He sincerely whispers._

"_I believe you, but what if something happens between our friends? Where would they go?" Rachel asks with a hanging head. She must make sure that her friends were protected._

"_I promise you baby, we will find a home large enough for everyone if that's what you want…we're have our own commune." He smirks._

"_Okay, but no switching partners." She beams._

"_But first let's get into our house and call LAPD to get the rodents removed from your property; then I'm calling Master and giving him a piece of my mind." He tells her before he places a kiss on her forehead._

_After finding out that Mr. Master, who is on the board of most of the tabloids, gave the paparazzi permission into the community to snap pictures of Rachel, it was decided that a real estate agent would be contacted the next morning._

* * *

><p>"Hey there beautiful, how was your day?" Finn greets Rachel at the door with a cup of tea with lemon.<p>

"Hey there yourself; did you get any work done today?" she asks before standing on her tiptoes to kiss him.

"A little; my mom called so I talked to her for a while." He shrugs.

"How's your mom and Burt?" she questions as she kicks off her flip flops by the door.

"They're good; they're going to Lima and invited us to come visit." He tells her as he tries to read her facial expression.

"I'd love to go to Lima and see where you grew up. When did they want us to come?" she wonders.

"For Christmas, she wants her 'boys' home for the holidays." He tells his petite girlfriend.

"It sounds like an awesome idea; dad's going on a cruise, so I won't be seeing him anyway; but what about the house?" Rachel replies.

"I've already asked Sam if he and Kitty could show it for us if need be." He tells her while wrapping his arms around her.

"Poor Kitty, I hate that she can't travel because of her pregnancy." Rachel tells Finn as she cuddles into his side, "I assume everyone else is going to Lima with us." She adds with a smirk.

"Of course, mom wants everyone there; but I've already told her that we're staying at the Lima Inn except for Christmas Eve." He says with a wink.

"When do we leave?" she's so excited to get away.

"This is your last week of filming, right? Blaine finishes next week so why don't we have Thanksgiving here then leave on December first?" he wonders.

"And stay until after New Year's Day?" she giddily asks.

"Sure, sounds good to me, let me go make reservations for a few rooms; why don't you go take a nice long bath and I'll take you out for dinner tonight?" he says before walking into his office.

* * *

><p>They walk into the airport in Columbus, immediately greeted by all of the parents. Finn had suggested that they could rent two SUVs and drive in since they'd need vehicles to drive anyway. Of course Carole had shut that idea down, insisting that there were enough vehicles for them to use. After the parents decides that they would take the 'kids' to the hotel to check in and then meet back at the Hudmel home afterwards; Finn, Rachel, Kurt and Blaine gets into Burt's Explorer, Puck and Quinn gets into Puck's mother's car and Britt and Santana crawl into her mom's little Prius.<p>

Deciding that paying for their hotel rooms for a month would be perfect Christmas gifts from Rachel and him; Finn checks the group in and leads them to the top floor of the tiny Inn. Of course, he has reserved the largest room for him and Rachel; but they all had beautiful rooms. They all barely had time to place their luggage down before Finn's cell phone starts to ring, "We're heading back down now mom!" he sighs.

Rachel, unable to control her laughter tells him that his mom is just excited to have her boys in the same state for a change. He thanks her for reminding him of that before grabbing her hand and walking down the hallway banging on each of their friends doors yelling, "Come on, they are waiting on us; no time for any hanky panky."

"Dude, did you just say hanky panky?" Puck smirks.

"Yes I did and I have no shame in it." Finn says with a laugh.

"Oh dear Chanel, he has reverted back to high school Finn." Kurt deadpans.

"Leave him alone; I think it's sexy." Rachel smirks before sticking her tongue out at Kurt.

"Apparently, it's contagious because I've not seen Rachel stick her tongue out of her mouth since junior high school." Quinn laughs.

"I don't know about you, my darling cousin; but I have ever intention of having a good time while we are here!" Rachel beams her famous Rachel Berry smile at Quinn.

"Oh believe me, y'all are gonna have the time of your lives; if we can keep you and Blaine incognito." Puck smirks while Finn laughs along.

"What are you two up to?" Rachel asks Finn.

"You'll find out; but if we don't hurry up mom's going to flip out." He tells her as he pulls her down the hall toward the elevator.

"Oh Carole, your home is beautiful." Rachel tells Carole; she was told quickly when she first met her in Malibu that she was not to call her Mrs. Hummel.

"Thank you Rachel, it's a shame that this house just sits here empty most of the year any more." Carole replies.

"Mom don't start; you knew that we were staying in California once we finished college." Finn tells her.

"Yes I know, I knew that with Kurt's profession that he'd have to live out there or in New York; but you can't blame me for wishing that you would come back home and open a practice here." Carole pouts.

"Well considering that Rachel's career is also either LA or New York based; I too have to stay out in LA." He honestly tells her, completely missing the happy look on Rachel's face.

"Good to know; I'm happy that she has came into your life." Carole smiles before walking into the kitchen.

Kurt burst out in laughter along with Burt, puzzled Finn questions what they are laughing at.

"You fell for her trap, Finn. She was trying to see how solid your relationship with Rachel is." Burt whispers so no one else could hear what he is saying.

"There's absolutely no doubt in my mind that where ever she goes that I will be following her." He quietly answers as he stares at Rachel on the other side of the room, secretly saying a little prayer to grilled cheesus that he hears yes on Christmas morning.

Rachel excuses herself and walks into the kitchen to offer Carole a hand with the drinks and appetizers. "Do you need some help?" she asks as she starts putting glasses of ice tea on the serving tray.

"Sure, and I just want to thank you for coming Rachel; because I don't think my son would have came without you." She tells the young woman who has taught her son to love again.

"Thank you for inviting me, there was no doubt that I was going to come with him when he asked me. Carole, I love Finn more than I have ever loved anyone else in my life." She honestly answers.

Tears filling up her eyes, Carole replies "I can tell just by the way that you look at him how much that you love him, and I know that he loves you more than anything on the earth."

"You have no idea how hearing that makes me feel. I promise that I will never intentionally hurt him. He is my world." Rachel tells Carole before giving her a hug.

"Come on, we better get these out there before the boys attack the kitchen." Carole says as she pulls away from Rachel's embrace and wipes the fallen tears from her face.

"Oh I know, that's a disaster waiting to happen; believe me it's happened to me once." Rachel laughs as she pushes the kitchen door open and heads out to the living room.

After everyone has a drink in their hand Carole proposes a toast, "Here's to having our children home for Christmas. I'm so grateful for each one of you."

"Cheers." Everyone replies before they all click their glasses together in the toast.

The evening is enjoyed by all, as they all just sat around catching up. Okay, to be fair maybe not enjoyed by all as the parents told stories of mischief of the Lima crew growing up.

Rachel was interested in hearing more about the glee club years since Finn has still refused to sing for her, aside from that night of karaoke . Carole tells her all about the year that the New Directions went to and won Nationals; she told Rachel about each and every song that Finn had sung. She tells her about the female lead having a passionate crush on Finn but he wasn't interested in her because she thought that she was the best of everything.

"Last I heard; Rhonda was still in Lima working at Breadstix. I wonder if she's still working there." Puck smirks.

"Yeah, she's still there; matter of fact the last time I was there with some of my friends she asked about you and Uncle Finn." Sarah tells her older brother.

"I wonder if she's the best waitress that there ever has been?" Rachel grumbles, not liking that a female has been asking about her man.

"No, actually she sucked. She messed up most of our order and never came back to ask us if we wanted any refills. I'll need to take you girls over to Breadstix when we go shopping." Sarah smirks.

"Oh boy, that should be interesting with the looks that Rachel and Quinn are sporting right now." Kurt states.

"I can't wait to go shopping." Quinn tells Sarah even though her eyes never left Puck.

"Me either, why not go tomorrow?" Rachel inquires.

"Tomorrow works for me after school; I will be home by four." Sarah tells Rachel; she can't wait for Rhonda to find out that Rachel is with Finn and that Puck has found Quinn.

"Alright, we'll swing by and pick you up at four then." Rachel tells her.

"Babe, you need to watch where you go if you don't want people to recognize you." Finn tells her as he wraps one of his arms around her shoulders.

"I'll be careful; we're just going to do a little shopping and grab a bite to eat at Breadstix. You guys can meet us at the restaurant if you want to." Rachel tells her boyfriend.

"Yeah, I think that would be a good idea." Puck chimes in because he knows that Rhonda can be a bitch, and if she says anything to Rachel; they will certainly be bailing both Rachel and Quinn out of jail.

"I want to get my shop on too; can I come with you ladies?" Kurt asks Sarah.

"Of course Uncle Kurt, you know shopping isn't shopping without you along for the ride." Sarah tells him because she knows that he will spend lots of money on her.

"Yippie! Satan, Brittney would either of you like to come with?" Kurt asks already knowing the answer.

"Uhmmm, no thanks; I hate to shop. Britt is going to take me to the high school to meet your old glee club advisor. What's his name, Mr. Shooter?" She replies looking at Brittney for help with the teacher's name.

"It's Schuester, but we always called him Mr. Schue." Kurt deadpans.

"Oh I want to meet him too." Rachel pouts at Finn.

"We can go and just pick Sarah up after school." Puck shrugs.

"Then you all can just drop us off back here before you go shopping." Finn adds.

"That sounds excellent! I can't wait to meet someone who had such an influence on you growing up." Rachel squeals as she reaches up and hugs Finn.

"Alright, enough of that; are any of you kids going to stay here tonight?" Burt questions.

"Naw, we are going to head back to the Inn and we'll be back early in the morning." Finn answers because let's face it, he hasn't spent many nights without Rachel beside of him in bed and there is no way in hell that they both can fit in his twin bed in his old bedroom.

"Early, really Finn you've never gotten up early." Burt jokes.

"Dad, I actually get up every morning at four, I'm not a high school jock anymore I have responsibilities." He tells the only father that he has every known.

"It's true; he wakes me up every morning, because Finn is not quiet." Rachel chirps in before realizing that she just told her boyfriends parents that she is living with him.

"Oh have you been spending a lot of time at Finn and Kurt's house?" Burt asks a red faced Rachel.

"Dad, I told mom that Rachel is living with me since the paps have been hanging outside of her house and that once her house is sold, we are going to find a larger house somewhere else then we are selling mine." Finn tells his stepfather angrily.

"Burt, Finn and Kurt are grown men; and I told you that Rachel is living with him." Carole sternly tells her husband effectively ending the conversation about their living arrangements.

"Well, we'll see you two early in the morning, goodnight." Finn tells his parents before hugging both of them.

"Brittney, are you and Santana going to come over to the house and spend some time with us?" Mitsy Pierce, Brittney's mom asks.

"No mom, not tonight; I've had a long day and with the time change, my body is acting all funny inside." Brittney tells her mom.

"Alright sweetie, I'll see all of you tomorrow then." Mitsy tells her daughter before hugging her and Santana.

* * *

><p>At seven o'clock the next morning, Finn and the crew walks in the kitchen door where Carole is cooking breakfast for everyone.<p>

"Morning mom, WOW it smells good in here." Finn tells his mom before placing a kiss on his mom's forehead.

"Thank you baby, I love cooking for a full house. I'm happy everyone is home; it's like old times, of course it's better now with the new additions to the group." Carole beams at her son.

"Carole, is there anything we can do to help?" Rachel asks as she pours Finn and herself a cup of coffee.

"No sweetie, I'm finished and there's fruit in the fridge for you, Finn told me that you only ate fruit for breakfast." Carole answers the beautiful brunette.

"Well normally that is true, but I'm on vacation so I want some of that delicious looking gravy." Rachel tells Carole.

"WOW, I can't remember the last time that you've ate anything else for breakfast. That has been your breakfast of choice since middle school." Quinn quips at her cousin.

"I've decided that change can be good." Rachel shrugs as she ladles some gravy over her biscuit.

After everyone finishes eating their breakfast, Rachel insisted that she and Quinn clean the kitchen so Carole can spend some time with her sons.

"What are you kids going to do today besides going to the school this afternoon?" Carole asks the men who are currently sprawled out all over her living room.

"We're just going to hang out here for awhile; my mom is on her way here too." Puck tells his second mom.

"Yeah, we're hanging here while the girls and Kurt goes shopping this afternoon too." Blaine says.

"Let's just hope that we don't have to break up any fights at lunch today." Puck smirks.

"Oh, Rachel and Quinn will behave themselves. They aren't the violent type." Blaine says with a laugh.

"Really, obviously you've never had a hairbrush thrown at you!" Kurt grumbles.

"You frightened her Kurt; she wasn't expecting you to walk in on her in the bathroom." Finn tells his brother.

"Besides Blaine, you haven't met Rhonda; she has a way of pushing buttons." Puck replies.

"Yeah, she is a sneaky winch. I wouldn't trust her as far as I can throw her; and from what I've been told that will be impossible since she's gained so much weight." Kurt adds.

After spending a relaxing day with all of the parents, Finn and the gang all are getting ready to go to McKinley to see Mr. Schue and pick up Sarah. Finn drives Burt's SUV with Rachel, Kurt and Blaine while Brittney takes her mom's car with Santana, Quinn and Puck.

"Yo, Finn I'm riding back to your mom's with you, Britt scares the shit out of me!" Puck hollers at Finn as he jumps out of the car before Brittney could even fully park it.

"I second that!" Quinn pipes in as she climbs out of the parked car and grabbing on to Puck's arm.

"What Puck, did you forget how fast she drives?" Finn chuckles at his best friend.

"Yeah, I kinda did. Come on let's go see Schue before he starts practice." He answers as he walks towards the door of the school.

Walking into the Glee classroom, Finn sees Mr. Schue looking over sheet music. "Hi Mr. Schue, long time no see." Finn says startling his former teacher.

"Finn, Puck, Kurt and Brittney; I didn't know that you were in town!" he says as he pulls all of his former students into a group hug. He notices the people with them before pulling away. "Hi there, I'm Will Schuester and you are?"

Before any one could answer him, Finn answers while pulling Rachel into his side. "This is my girlfriend Rachel and that's Quinn, Santana and Blaine." He says as he points to each of the others.

"Pleasure to meet you Mr. Schuester; we've heard a lot about you." Rachel tells him as she extends her hand out to the teacher.

"Call me Will, Rachel Berry, where have I heard that name before?" he asks as he brushes her hand away and pulls her into a hug as his students start piling in to the classroom.

"OMG Mr. Schue, I didn't know that you knew the Rachel Berry!" Casey, one of Mr. Schue's current students says.

"That's where I've heard your name." Will says with a laugh.

"Yes, I'm Rachel, what's your name sweetie?" Rachel asks the awestruck teenager.

"Casey, and one day I plan on having your career." Casey tells her idol.

"Can I hear you sing?" Rachel asks the girl.

"Sure." She answers before belting out 'Cue the Rain' for the group.

"You are awesome; I have no doubt that if you work hard that you will be recording your own hits." Rachel tells the young girl after she finishes singing.

"Hey guys, are you ready to go shopping?" Sarah asks as she walks into the glee room.

"Sure are; but how about we go grab something to eat first?" Quinn replies because she can't wait to meet Rhonda.

"We'll be here until after New Year's Mr. eh, Will; we'll see you again soon." Finn tells his former teacher.

As soon as they walk into Breadstix; they hear a nasally "Finn Hudson, is that you?"

Finn flinches as Rachel tightens her grip on his arm.

Quinn turns towards the direction that the voice is coming from and burst out laughing at the sight that she sees. "We need a table for seven please."

"Right this way." Rhonda answers as she leads them to a table in her section because she is hell bent on getting a date with either Finn or Puck; who are those girls anyway.

"Finn, Puck long time no see; I didn't know that you two were back in town." She purrs.

"Actually, we are home to spend the holidays with our parents; allow me to introduce you to our significant others Rachel, Quinn and my sweetie Blaine." Kurt tells the bottled blonde.

"Significant others huh; I don't see any rings on any of your fingers; you know the old saying you're single until you have a ring on it!" she sneers.

"Where we grew up you dated before you put a ring on it; Finn and I have been dating for six months." Rachel smirks at the waitress.

"Six months, that's got to be some record for Finn; in high school he never stayed with anyone longer than two weeks." She sneers back down at the tiny brunette.

"I'm not in high school anymore; and believe me when I say that this is going to last!" he says as he motions between Rachel and himself.

"I'm sorry, but I'm kind of starving here and I want to go shopping with my Aunts Rachel and Quinn and Uncle Kurt, so can you do your job and take our order instead of standing there drooling over my Uncle Finn and brother?" Sarah questions the crazy waitress.

"Oh how cute, you're not even related to them, you're just a Puckerman." Rhonda sneers.

"Do you make it a habit of fighting with teenagers? It's an honor to me that she thinks of me as her aunt so if you don't mind I would like a diet coke to drink." Rachel almost growls.

"Oh honey, this ain't LA; here in Lima people don't speak to people that way." Rhonda growls back at Rachel.

"Well if you must know, I didn't grow up in LA; but we were always taught to treat people the way that they treat us." Rachel answers before the rest of the table starts ordering their drinks.

"Oh and Rhonda, we are requesting another waitress and the manager please." Kurt adds at the end of their order.

* * *

><p>After a few of hours of retail therapy, Kurt drops Sarah off at her house and heads towards the Casa La Hudmel to their men.<p>

"I love this little town; except for Rhonda, everyone here is so friendly." Rachel thinks out loud.

"Don't forget that no one's in a hurry either. It reminds me of home during the winter." Quinn tells her cousin.

"Trust me; after this next month, you will be so bored that you will be begging to get back to LA." Kurt quips.

"I can live in the middle of nowhere as long as I have Finn with me." Rachel tells Kurt honestly.

"Good to know, but please don't drag my brother away from LA." Kurt tells her. He is so happy knowing how much Rachel loves his brother.

"I promise that I won't take him away from you; if we go anywhere, you are more than welcome to visit." She giggles.

* * *

><p>"Hey Finn, how about coming over here and sit down, you've about worn a spot in the carpet over there." Burt tells his son who has been pacing the floor in front of the window for the last hour.<p>

"She's with Kurt dude, she's fine." Puck joins in the conversation.

"I know that she's fine, I just miss her." Finn answers as he sits in the recliner so he can still look out the window.

"You've got it bad this time, don't you?" Burt quizzes Finn.

"She makes me feel things that I have never felt before; not even with Lucy. She makes me wonder if I've ever loved anyone else before." He honestly answers.

"Papa Burt, she's awesome; they all are. I've thanked my lucky stars for allowing them to move in to our neighborhood." Puck adds.

"WOW is Puck the shark in love?" Burt asks amused at the way his boys are acting about these women.

"No doubt about it, I love her." Puck tells Burt.

"And I can guarantee you that they feel the same way about these guys." Blaine tells Burt.

"God, I hope so." Finn whispers just as Kurt pulls into the driveway.

"Let's go see if they need any help." Puck tells them as he stands up.

"I'm sure anything that they bought will go to the hotel guys." Blaine chuckles as Rachel walks into the house.

"Hi guys! Gosh I haven't had that much fun shopping in a long time." Rachel beams as she collapses into Finn's awaiting arms.

"I can't believe that you enjoyed the Lima Mall that much; there aren't many stores like we have out in LA." Puck tells the tiny brunette as he tries to grab the bags that Quinn is carrying before she snatches them away from him.

"Oh, no you don't, mister; these bags have some presents for you in them. Carole is it okay if we leave these here so Puck and Finn won't be tempted to look?" Quinn asks before bursting out laughing at the matching looks on Puck's and Finn's faces.

"Of course dear; here I'll take them into my bedroom; the boys know that they aren't allowed in there." Carole smirks as she takes the bags from Quinn.

"And Puck, you're right there aren't many stores like I'm used to in LA but, there are a bunch of quaint stores that reminds me of home; hey Blaine will you help me carry in my bags?" Rachel asks her best guy friend.

"I'll get them baby." Finn tells her putting on his coat.

"Oh no buster, Kurt told me that you are a big snoop. What Quinn said to Puck goes for you too." Rachel tells him before placing a chaste kiss on his lips.

Kurt burst out laughing so hard that he almost drops his bags, "I'm going to go give these to mom so she can hide them too and I'll be out there to help you Blaine with Rachel's purchases."

"What did you do babe, did you buy out the whole mall?" Finn chuckles at the look on his girlfriends face.

"No I did not," she pouts "I just found a lot of quaint things that I thought that my wonderful friends would absolutely love." She tells him with a wink.

"Maybe they will love their gifts half as much as I do you." He tells her before planting a steamy kiss on her lips.

Burt clears his throat loudly; the rest of the gang busts out laughing at the embarrassed couple. "Sorry dad, I keep forgetting that we aren't at our home." Finn sheepishly tells him.

Carole walks back into the room and tells the 'children' that she is planning a Christmas party at the Lima Country Club on December seventeenth and that it is a black tie affair.

"Yay, another shopping trip; we will need to go into Columbus to find the perfect clothing." Kurt cheers.

* * *

><p>Early the next morning all eight bodies wedges into Burt's SUV to take the almost two hour trip into Columbus. Finn isn't happy that Puck is sitting in the passenger seat instead of Rachel; but because she is so tiny she is stuck in the middle of the second seat between Quinn and Kurt. He had been secretly wishing that Tana and Brittney wouldn't be going since you know, she made it known that she hadn't planned on shopping on her vacation considering that was pretty much part of her job as Rachel's personal assistant.<p>

"Even though I'm not happy about the seating arrangements; I can't wait to get to a real mall and get my shop on!" Kurt chimes in breaking the silence in the vehicle.

"I can't believe that we didn't think about packing party clothes." Rachel tells Kurt.

"I didn't know that our parents were having a Christmas party at the country club; we always just had a small party at home every year." Kurt huffs because he knows that Rachel blames him because she had asked him when she was packing.

"Oh, really it's okay; I love to shop when I can shop in peace; don't get me wrong I love my fans but I like being able to shop with my man and my friends without having flashbulbs flashing in my face." Rachel tells Kurt as she stares at Finn through the rearview mirror.

After deciding to split up and to go separate ways deciding to meet up at the food court in a couple of hours, Finn, Rachel, Puck and Quinn found themselves in Neiman Marcus. Rachel gasps when she finds the perfect Kurt Hummel Original mini dress; Kurt always names his designs and this particular one is called Rachel. It is the perfect party dress, the strapless, sweetheart top is made out of black silk with a black lace overlay while the full skirt is red silk. It is the most beautiful dress that she has every laid her eyes on; and just the thought that it may be named after her adds to her attraction. "I found my dress for the party, Quinn. Have you had any luck?" Rachel asks her friend who is currently looking at the same rack in which Rachel just finished looking at.

"Look Rachel, here is the mirror image of your dress! I love this dress too. Would you mind if I got this one? The colors are flipped." Quinn questions her cousin.

"Of course I don't mind, I think that we will look good walking up in the country club wearing these dresses; and the best part of it is if we need them altered we have the master at our disposal." Rachel chuckles as she tells the guys that they now need to find shoes.

They are currently looking in the shoe department trying to find the perfect shoe to go with their dresses; you know the guys just picked out a pair of black Prada cap-toe oxfords. The girls decides on a pair of black Michael Kors strappy stilettos; but Finn notices Rachel looking at a pair of black and red Christian Louboutin's and decides that he is going to buy them without her knowing for her. Oh come on he knows that his mom's Christmas party actually falls on the first day of Hanukah and he has every intention of given her a gift for each night of the holiday. He tells the salesperson that he wants to buy those shoes in a size five and paid for them promising to be right back to pick them up.

After they meet up with the rest of their group surrounded by way too many bags, of course everyone knew that half of them belonged to Kurt; Finn excuses himself saying that he needs to go back and buy a pair of socks; which is just a lame ass excuse so he can go pick up Rachel's shoes.

* * *

><p>They've been in Lima for two weeks already. Brittney and Santana are at Mitzy's house spending the evening with her and Brittney's dad Tony.<p>

Carole, Kurt and the girls are decorating the home while Burt and the guys are out looking for the 'perfect' Christmas tree. As to hold to the tradition that was started after Burt and Carole got married; Puck, who like Rachel grew up in a Jewish home, always goes with Burt and Finn. Blaine, who learned real quickly about Kurt's 'diva mode' that he turns into when decorating, opted to tag along with the men.

"Rachel, honey will you hang the stockings on the mantle?" Carole asks Rachel while she hands her one of the stocking hanger to place on the mantle.

Rachel notices that they have their names painted on them, when she sees hers; she feels a flutter in her heart. Carole notices Rachel's facial expression and smiles at the tiny beauty, "There is no doubt in my heart that this hanger will be hanging from my mantle for years to come."

"They're beautiful Carole; and I look forward to spending many Christmases in your home." Rachel tells her as she sets out to hang the stocking.

Kurt's busy creating a masterpiece on the front picture window as Quinn finishes decorating the banisters on the stairs. Rachel and Quinn finishes up their jobs when Carole walks back into the room with a box containing a Manger scene and a Christmas Village, telling the girls the story behind each one. She explains how she and Finn would buy a new piece each year after buying the 'starter kit' which held four pieces; Santa's workshop, the North Pole Post Office, Santa's house and a Church. The collection now has twenty four pieces. She picks up the last piece before looking at the young ladies and tells them "This is the Candy Shop; this piece has always been Finn's favorite; until now I didn't know why but, I think I do now. Look inside the window and tell me what you see."

Rachel looks in the window and sees a little brunette girl and boy holding hands. Confused she asks Carole, "Are you talking about the children?"

"Yes, I know it's silly, but I think Finn was destined to find his own little brunette." She softly answers while wiping her tears.

"Mom, why are you crying?" Kurt asks as he hurries over to her side.

"Happy tears, I promise; because both of my boys are finally happily in love." She answers with a smile. She looks over at Quinn before adding, "Puck is like my third son, and there's no doubt that he has found his true love too. I thank God everyday for sending you to LA and my boys."

"I'm happy that our journey took us to them too." Rachel whispers, pulling Carole into a hug. The final decorations are being placed when the garage door is heard opening. "Oh good, the tree's here." Kurt exclaims as he claps and jumps up and down like a silly school girl.

Finn is the first to walk in the door, making a beeline for Rachel. "Hey babe, we finally found the perfect tree.", before he places a kiss on her forehead.

"Wow look at this place, you all did a wonderful job, Carole." Burt tells his wife.

"Damn dude, where's the fire?" Puck asks Finn as he takes his coat off.

"Noah Puckerman!" Carole scolds Puck.

"Sorry mama Carole." Puck mumbles with his head hung.

With a chuckle, Finn points at Rachel and tells Puck, "And right here's the fire."

Totally beyond antsy, Kurt pipes up, "Where is this perfect tree?" he huffs.

"Oh Lord diva Kurt has arrived." Puck sneers.

"Kurt it's standing outside in the garage so it can settle." Finn tells his annoying brother.

"Let us get something warm to drink, and then we'll go shake it out and bring it in." Burt says as the men head to the kitchen.

Carole catches the way that Rachel is staring at Finn's retreating form; willing herself not to burst out in tears questions Rachel, "You really do love him, don't you?"

"More than anything." She whispers.

"Come on let's go grab some hot chocolate." Kurt tells the group as he leads Rachel toward the kitchen door.

"This is so much fun" Rachel beams as she hangs another ornament on the tree.

"That's right; you haven't ever done this have you?" Kurt asks as he hands her a bow to tie on the tree.

"Well my daddy, Hiram is Jewish, but my other dad grew up in a Christian home with Quinn's mom; we celebrated Hanukah at home but we did go to Quinn's on Christmas morning." She answers before grabbing another bow.

"If we actually got to go home for Christmas, we usually had to stay at school because of the Christmas pageants." Quinn chirps in.

"Then we'd have our own celebration, which usually included large credit card bills for our parents" Rachel says with a laugh.

"I was sixteen the first time that I got to do all of this Christmas stuff." Puck tells the group.

"Yeah, my dad marries Carole and I gain a Finn and a Puck." Kurt replies.

* * *

><p>After everyone said their goodbyes; the young adults goes back to the hotel after promising Carole that she would indeed see them the next day.<p>

"Hello?" Rachel answers her phone just as they are walking into the Inn.

"Hey Berry pie," Santana giggles before continuing, "I've had too much eggnog so Britt and I are just going to stay here at Mitzy's house tonight."

"That's fine Tana, we'll see you tomorrow at Carole's so we can get our spa day on before the party." Rachel tells her intoxicated friend.

"I love you Rachel Berry; tell the T-Rex that he better not hurt you." Santana slurs, once Santana has had too much to drink she has the tendency to become clingy and threatening to anyone who she thinks could hurt her friends.

"I trust that he won't; I love you too Santana now take care of Brittney and be at Carole's at nine o'clock sharp." The tiny diva tells her friend before saying goodbye.

By the time that she had been able to get off of the phone with Santana, she found herself standing outside of her and Finn's room. She finds herself giddy because this is really the only true significant amount of alone time they've had since arriving in Ohio.

Finn must of read her mind because as soon as he closed the door behind them he turns and asks her what she wants to do with all of their free time; giving her that sexy half smirk that causes her to soak her panties every single time.

"You know, I am planning to take advantage of that huge shower, I want to feel every one of them jets. We've been rushed every morning so I haven't been able to really enjoy it; you know I think that is one thing that is a must have in our new home. Would you like to come and enjoy it with me?" she purrs.

"Well, I don't know; I mean you hid my presents at my mom's house?" he jokes as he rubs his chin.

As she slowly pulls her shirt off and unfastens her bra and let's them both fall into the floor, "It's your lost, baby." She purrs as she turns to walk into the bathroom as she walks out of her skirt just as she reaches the bathroom door.

"You don't play fair!" Finn moans while his pants get extremely tight thanks to the beautiful sight in front of him.

Rachel sticks her hand out of the bathroom door, dangling her lacy panties out before dropping them on top of her discarded skirt. "All's fair in love and war, sweetheart! The offer still stands, I'll just be in here." She tells him as she points back into the bathroom.

"Yeah, because I could say no to that." He whispers as he too starts stripping his clothes off as he walks toward the bathroom.

After finding the perfect temperature, Finn helps his beautiful girlfriend into the shower before following in behind her. He turns her toward him and lowers his head to kiss her telling her that he feels like the luckiest guy in the world to be able to call her his before placing the most passionate kiss he can give.

Feeling weak in her knees, Rachel stands on her tiptoes and whispers, "I keep telling you that I am the lucky one." Before she starts kissing and nibbling on his neck. "I love you and I have thought about getting you back here and making love to you all day." She adds as she reaches for his manhood.

Unable to hold back a moan; wanting her as much as she wants him, he reaches down and grabs her legs and wraps them around his hips. Feeling her breast pressing against his chest, he bends his knees just enough to align his manhood with her sweet center; he whispers that he loves her before he slowly enters her.

"Oh Gooodddd, Finn baby; right there! So good, don't stop, it won't take long." She moans as he pounds his body into hers.

Finn swears that each time that they make love that he falls even deeper in love with her. "Rachel, you're so tight. You are amazing." He tells her as he lifts her head up so he can look into her eyes before adding, "I can't imagine my life without you in it; I plan on being with you for the rest of my life."

"Good, because baby I know for a fact that I couldn't live without you in my life." She tells him as she starts rolling her hips in tiny circles; aching for her sweet release.

Finn can read her body's actions so well; he knows that she is getting close to her explosion so he speeds up his thrusts as he tightens his grip on her ass. "Come on baby, cum for me. I love you more than anything in this world."

Finn's words along with his consistent hard thrust sends her over her edge; and as always as soon as he feels her sweet release around his cock, he follows.

Holding onto her waiting on her breath to even out, he constantly keeps telling her how much that he loves her, and telling her just how happy that she has made him."

Finn finally helps her down onto her feet and grabs her loofah and body wash and starts washing her body off.

In between her purrs of appreciation, Rachel stumbles that she is capable of washing her body, but she has to admit that she loves feeling his hands all over her body. She decides to join him as she reaches for his body wash and lathering in up in her hands. She starts with his chest, down his arms and over his torso before he moans in appreciation of her work. "You know that if you keep this up, we may never get out of the shower." He whispers before catching her lips with his.

After they spent another forty-five minutes in the shower (of course they also had another round of lovemaking) the couple begrudgingly steps out of the shower. Finn grabs one of the fluffy bath towels and wraps it around her delicate body before grabbing one to dry himself off.

Rachel, who is still amazed at the way that Finn treats her; places a kiss on his chest before walking back into their luxurious suite.

Much later that night the couple finds their bodies wrapped up with each other talking about the plans for the next day. Since it's the day before Carole's Christmas party the ladies where going to go have a spa day, complements of Puck and Finn. The guys were going to go hang out at the school with Will for a little while and go see their old football coach Shannon Bieste before heading over to a new bar in town called Dalton's.

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><p>Finn wakes up on the morning of the seventeenth a little nervous. He has purchased eight special gifts that he plans on giving Rachel each day of Hanukah with the last gift being the one that he has carried around with him since leaving Los Angeles. He feels his tiny diva stirring in bed beside him and his mind starts racing about what her answer will be. He has even convinced himself that she is going to say no.<p>

"Good morning baby; how did you sleep?" Rachel asks bringing him out of his thoughts.

"Amazing; we have a busy day ahead of us today, but before we get our day started I have something for you." He tells her as he rises out of the bed.

Rachel admiring the view of her naked man's backside jokes, "I was hoping what you were going to give me didn't require either one of us getting out of bed."

"We have plenty of time for that; hopefully the rest of our lives. Anyway happy first day of Hanukah baby." He tells her as he produces the wrapped Louboutins to her.

"Oh Finn, you didn't have to do this; I told you that I was perfectly happy celebrating Christmas with you and your family." Rachel tells him as she takes the package that he is handing to her.

"I know, but I wanted you to have at least the gifts of Hanukah. Besides; I think these will look super hot on you." He smirks as he sits down beside her on the bed. When she opens the gift she gasps at the gorgeous shoes.

"Finn, these are too much, I don't know what to say." She whispers with tears in her eyes because she knows for a fact that no other man has ever spent so much money on her before.

"Just say thank you and promise me that you will wear them tonight to mom's party. I love you." He tells her before placing a peck on the top of her head.

"I promise that I will; we better get busy though so we can meet everyone at your mom's house. We are supposed to be there in thirty minutes." Rachel smirks, so much for going to bed early last night.

"I guess that means that we'll have to shower together then, doesn't it?" he smirks.

"Yes, but showering only, no other activities will be going on in the shower." She giggles as Finn pouts.

Later that night, as the guest starts arriving at the Lima Country Club; Finn loops his arm through Rachel's as he leads her to meet some of his old friends from high school. "Mike and Tina Chang, I'd like to introduce my girlfriend, Rachel Berry; Rachel this is Mike and Tina Chang. We were in the Glee club together."

"Nice to meet you Mike and Tina, Finn has told me a lot about you. I'm hoping to hear some New Directions tonight." She says as she beams up at Finn.

"Rachel, I went and seen you in 'West Side Story' and I have listened to your album on repeat since I've bought it." Tina tells her idol in awe.

"Yeah, Finn how did you luck up and find a Broadway diva?" Mike jokes.

"I'm thinking that she was sent to me." Finn shrugs, really not caring if he sounds like a whipped man; because let's face it, he is.

"Finn, this is a wonderful party. I was hoping that you were still in town. I have been looking for you at Breadstix." Rhonda interrupts the conversation.

"We are here through the new year. I've been busy with my wonderful girlfriend, family and friends. Why are you here anyway?" Finn growls as he pulls Rachel into his side.

"Your mom invited me, she told me that she wanted the whole New Directions here tonight." She purrs.

"I'm sorry but did you just lie to my son?" Carole asks Rhonda, "because I most certainly did not invite you here, and I am going to give you the opportunity to walk out of here on your own or I can get someone to escort you out."

"Fine, I'm leaving but Finn you know that we are meant to be together. Once you lose the hobbit, you know where to find me." She sneers before looking at Rachel and telling her to enjoy it why she can because she knows that Finn will grow restless with her soon.

"I hate that bitch! If she thinks for one minute that she has a chance in Hell with you, then she's crazier than I thought." Rachel tells Finn before pulling him away from Mike, Tina and Carole.

Rachel is visibly upset and its Finn's job to calm her down, "Baby, you know that I have no desire to be with her, right? Haven't I showed you how I feel about you?" He questions her.

"Finn you are perfect; you make me feel like the queen of the world but it doesn't change the fact that SHE is standing in the wings just waiting on you to dump me." Rachel tells him while she leans into his awaiting arms.

"I'm not going anywhere; I promise you that you will always know how I feel about you. I love you Rachel. You are all that I need." Finn reassures her.

"May I have everyone's attention please?" Carole asks the room. "First of all, Burt and I would like to thank you all for coming tonight. I also must gush about the fact that we all have our children home for the holidays for the first time in years. I'd like to introduce the wonderful people who have found their way into our children's hearts; Rachel, Quinn, Blaine and Santana. This is the first time that I can remember that all of our children are happy. Anyway, enjoy the evening." She says as she wipes tears of joy from under her eyes.

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><p>Rachel wakes up with a massive hangover, after Rhonda showed up to the party last night Rachel drank five drinks too many. "Oh My God, I'm dying." She moans as she reaches for Finn only to discover that he isn't in bed with her. She slowly opens her eyes and peeks around the room, finally spotting him at the desk working on his laptop. "Finn Hudson, you better not be working; this is a vacation." She says as loud as she can, which isn't very loud thanks to the jackhammers in her head.<p>

"Well sleeping beauty has finally awakened. How do you feel this morning?" He asks softly as he gets up and walks back over to the bed.

"I need some Advil and about five gallons of water please." She whispers as she grabs her head.

"I'll be right back babe; don't move." He tells her as he disappears into the bathroom to grab the Advil out of the medicine cabinet before grabbing her bottle of water out of the mini fridge. "Here you go baby girl." He tells her as he hands her the remedy. "I have something else for you." He tells her as he hands her a small wrapped rectangle box.

"What is this?" she asks as she unwraps the box, she opens it and gasps. "Finn, this is beautiful. Thank you." She tells him before placing a gentle kiss on his lips.

"When I saw it I knew that I had to get it for my shining star" he tells her as he unclasps the two carat star shaped diamond necklace and placing it around her neck.

"You are spoiling me Finn; but thank you again." She whispers as she leans up against his chest.

About an hour later Rachel is finally able to get out of bed and jumps in the shower. Carole has already called asking when they would be at the house because she wants to take Rachel, Quinn and most likely Kurt out for a girl's day. Ever since Carole has called Finn has been pouting because he really was looking forward to spending the day with Rachel and the rest of his family.

Finn grumbles when Rachel walks out of the bathroom, "We have run every day that we've been here. I was looking forward to spending time at home today."

"Baby, we shouldn't be gone too long, I think that we are just going to lunch." She tells her pouting man.

"Obviously you've already forgotten what it's like going to lunch with Kurt; and I really hope that you and Quinn are ready to answer twenty questions from my mom." He tells her as he helps her put on her coat.

"I promise you that I'll be fine. I'm not afraid of your mom's questions." She chuckles before pulling him down into a steamy kiss. "Now come on, we don't want to keep your mom waiting."

Sure enough, as soon as they pulled into the Hudmel driveway. Carole comes out of the house telling Finn that he moves like molasses before telling him that she has prepared all of the men lunch.

"Thanks mom, you all have fun at lunch." He tells her before leaning down and placing a kiss on her head before he turns toward Rachel and whispers in her ear good luck before placing a gentle kiss on her lips. He grabs Puck and Blaine by their arms and starts walking into the house as Carole's driver pulls out of the driveway.

"Yes sir, I'll be there on the twenty third but my boys and their families are here for Christmas, so I want to be back here in Lima on Christmas Eve. See you then, goodbye" Burt hangs up the phone and is startled when he turns around and sees the boys standing in the doorway of the kitchen.

"What was that all about dad? I thought that you were out of session until after the first of the year." Finn questions his step-father.

"Congress is; but I have to travel to Columbus for a state budget meeting. Why in the hell they scheduled it two days before Christmas is beyond me, your mom's going to be upset." Burt huffs.

"Mom knows what your job requirements are, she will understand. I think that she should go with you to Columbus so you don't have to take the trip by yourself." Finn tells Burt as he starts making himself a bowl of Carole's famous Vegetable Beef soup.

"Are you morphing into your brother?" Burt chuckles.

"Hey, I worry about your health too." A hurt Finn replies.

"I know that you worry about me son, but your brother is the one who usually insists that I not travel alone." Burt tells him as he ladles his own soup into his bowl.

"So what all do you guys have planned to do while you are here? I know that your mom has kept you all busy but I'm sure that you would like to take your ladies out on the town." Burt asks his son.

"We were talking about taking them to Dalton's tonight for dinner than staying for the music." Puck tells Burt as he sits down at the bar with Finn.

"They sure would enjoy that, it seems to me like Rachel and Blaine both are enjoying being able to do normal things without being harassed by the paparazzi." Burt tells the guys with a nod of his head.

"Believe me, we are. It's been a while since we've been able to walk down the street in peace." Blaine tells Burt as he joins the other men in the kitchen.

"I'm kind of surprised that more people haven't figured out that Rachel's here considering that every time we walk into the Glee club all of the members flip out." Puck says before taking another bite of his soup.

"Mr. Schue told them that if they spread it around town that she was here that she wouldn't be able to come visit them anymore." Finn pipes in before taking a drink of his lemonade.

After a three hour lunch; Carole, Rachel, Quinn and Kurt busts into the house, all of them in a fit of laughter.

Finn and Puck both immediately turns towards the door, "SHHHH, Dad's sleeping." They both told the giggling group.

"What did you all do during your three hour lunch?" Puck asks Quinn before sweeping her up into his arms.

"Oh you know mom stories about the crazy stuff that you two got into when you were in high school." Quinn tells Puck which causes Rachel to start giggling again.

"Hey Puck, have you entered into any more beauty pageants?" Rachel asks as seriously as she can.

"Momma Carole, why did you tell them about that?" Puck asks as he hides his face behind his arm.

"Because it was sweet, and for a good cause; and let's not forget that you won it." Carole boasts before heading into the kitchen.

Finn follows her into the kitchen to tell her that they have plans to take their loves to Dalton's for dinner and plans of staying there late to enjoy the music before she starts preparing a feast for all of them. She tells him okay and thanks him for letting her know and decides since it would only be her and Burt at home, she pulls a small pack of chicken breast out of the refrigerator. "You keep those precious girls safe." She tells him before hugging her son and wishing them a good time tonight.

After they all promise that if they drink that they would call for Carole's driver; they all give her a kiss and hug bye before heading back to their hotel room to get ready.

* * *

><p>Once everyone is ready to go, they meet in their hallway and heads toward the elevator. "Damn ladies, you all look hot as hell; we will be beating the guys off with a stick." Puck tells the beautiful women that are standing around the elevator door.<p>

"Puck baby, I only have eyes for you and you know that, so as long as you don't leave my side all night than we shouldn't have any trouble." Quinn tells her adoring boyfriend before wrapping her arms around his waist.

"Are you ready to let loose tonight, Rach?" Finn whispers into her ear.

"Absolutely, as long as I don't have to fight all of your exes off of you, we will have a lovely night." She tells her boyfriend as he grabs her hand when the elevator door finally reaches their floor.

When they arrive at Dalton's and are seated at their table a younger woman walks up to their table. "Excuse me, but where have I seen you before? You look so familiar to me." She asks Rachel.

"Well, I've been here for a couple of weeks." Rachel politely answers hoping that the intruding woman would accept her answer and leave them be. (No such luck.)

"Oh, I know where I've seen you before; you are in that movie that is getting ready to be released, what's the name? Half Moon?" she tells the brunette.

"It's called 'Full Moon' and yes I am staring in it; but we aren't even finished filming it so how do you know about it?" Rachel questions.

"Oh, I saw the previews for it when I went to the movies last night, may I have your autograph?" the irritating woman asks.

Santana turns into security guard mode pipes up, "If Ms. Berry gives you her autograph do you promise not to tell anyone that she is here and go on back to your table?"

"Ye..ess ma'am, I promise not to tell a soul." The frightened woman answers. And true to her word, once Rachel gives her an autograph she went back to her own table.

The transformation of Dalton's the restaurant and Dalton's the dance club is one that is fascinating to watch; as the dining area clears out, the tables are pulled up and the large curtains are drawn back showing an impressive stage and DJ booth. After dancing and drinking their night away the group finds themselves in the back of Carole's car heading toward their hotel.

As soon as they all tell each other goodnight Finn and Rachel are finally alone. As soon as the door is closed and locked, Finn picks Rachel up bridal style and places her on the bed before he retreats to his closet to pull out her third gift.

"Since it is three o'clock now, I want to go ahead and give you your third gift because I have a suspicious feeling that we won't be waken up real early tomorrow morning." He tells the beautiful woman that is currently lying on the bed in just a pair of red lace panties with a matching bra. Deciding to stop telling him that he is doing too much Rachel just takes the package out of Finn's hand. She opens it and tears feels her eyes as she looks at the engraved silver picture frames, the first one has the word "Family" on it with a picture of them surrounded by all of their friends that had been taken the first day that they arrived in Lima; the second frame is engraved with the word "Love" with a picture of them that was taken on the beach at Malibu; and the third one has the word "Forever Ever After" with a note inside of it saying 'picture to come soon'. With tear filled eyes Rachel looks over at Finn and whispers, "This is the most thoughtful gift. I love them all. You'll have to explain to me about the 'picture to come' eventually."

"In due time my sweetness, I promise that you will know exactly what that picture frame is meant to be used for before we leave Lima." He whispers before placing a tender kiss on her lips as she starts to slip off to sleep.

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><p><strong>Okay I really didn't intend for this chapter to be so long, it is so long that I have decided to break it up into two chapters. I will try my hardest to get the next chapter up before Christmas. Just in case that I'm not able to I'd like to wish each one of you a Merry Christmas. Please Read and Review and let me know what you think. I love reviews; they make me want to get my chapters out faster. As always this chapter is for our favorite quarterbackdrummer. Next Chapter will be the conclusion of Christmas in Lima. Much Love, Melanie**


	14. Christmas in Lima Part 2 Chapter 14

Christmas in Lima Part 2

**AN: And here we go with the second part of their Christmas in Lima. Once again thank you for all of the wonderful reviews. I am enjoying writing these stories. As I promised when I started this story our Finn will always get his happy endings. I think it's safe to say that all of our favorite characters will get theirs too. Once again, thank you to my twitter posse. Love ya ladies. One day we'll get our Vegas trip. Reminder: any flashbacks that appear will be in italics and that any songs that I may choose to use throughout this story sadly aren't mine. Also I don't own any of the characters except a few that will pop up every now and then and a couple that are in the process of being created. Much love to you all! **

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><p>December 20th<p>

Rachel wakes up at three o'clock having a strong urge to vomit. She quickly but quietly unwraps herself out of Finn's arms and runs to the bathroom. She is thinking about everything that she had eaten the day before and nothing she ate should have upset her stomach; she didn't drink any alcohol either. Nothing hurts and she doesn't feel like she's running a fever, she isn't getting sick. As she's brushing her teeth, a thought strikes her hard. 'It can't be, wait today is the twentieth.' She thinks to herself. Quietly she walks out of the bathroom and retrieves her planner out of her purse. Ruffling through the pages she whispers to herself "Oh my God, this can't be right." As she sneaks a peek at her gorgeous sleeping man. "Well there's nothing you can do about it now." She tells herself, she puts her planner back into her purse before crawling back into bed with Finn.

Obviously, she's not able to sleep; she just keeps replaying the dates in her head as she places her hand on her still taunt belly. She finds herself excited, should she be excited? What if Finn doesn't want children now; oh no what if he thinks that she's trying to trap him just like Lucy did? She's working herself up and she knows that she needs to calm down before she wakes him up. She plans on visiting Santana and Brittney's room in the morning to ask Tana to go buy a test to confirm what she is almost certain is true.

Rachel finally must have fallen asleep because she is woken up by Finn placing small kisses on her face and lips. "Good morning babe." He whispers when he notices that she has her eyes open. Before she's able to reply to him, she jumps out of bed and runs to the bathroom with Finn hot on her heels. She practically slams the door in his face because she really doesn't need him watching her vomit. Just as a couple of hours earlier, when she finishes she brushes her teeth before opening the door. She knows that Finn is standing on the other side waiting for an explanation, one that she isn't able to give just yet, but she decides to tell him about what she thinks may be causing the sudden sickness.

She's right, Finn's standing outside of the bathroom door leaning against the wall, when she emerges from the room she reaches for his hand and leads him to the bed. After making him promise to listen to what she has to say, and not to freak out on her, "Finn, I'm like fifteen days late." She tells him as she tries to read his facial expression, which is utter confusion. She knows that he doesn't understand so she just comes out with the news that could change everything between them, "Finn, I think that I may be pregnant."

That got his attention, his reaction is one that she is hoping for but isn't the one that she is expecting, with his half smirk he asks her, "We're having a baby?"

"I haven't taken a test yet, and from what Kitty and everyone else that I know that has been pregnant; I haven't had all of the unpleasant symptoms. Kitty said that her boobs hurt to look at and she has been so tired. Aside from the nausea and vomiting, I feel fine." She tells her still smiling boyfriend.

"Well I think that we need to run to the drugstore and buy a couple of test and find out if we're going to be parents." He tells her, he is literally beaming down at her.

"You're not upset? I was afraid that you'd be upset because of how Lucy did you." She whispers while gazing into his auburn eyes.

"No baby, I'm definitely not upset. As far as Lucy goes, I always had doubts about her pregnancy and believe me; even though it hurt like hell when I found out that the baby wasn't mine, I'm so happy that she isn't. Rachel, being the daddy of your child would make me the happiest man on this earth." He tells her before placing a gentle kiss on her lips.

"Well I guess we need to get dressed and go get the tests so we can find out if we're going to be parents." She beams up at him as she speaks.

"First, let me give you your Hanukah gift then we will go." He tells her as he hands her a tiny box for her to unwrap. As soon as she opens it he tells her once again that he felt like they were the perfect gift for his little star. In the black velvet box set a pair of diamond earrings that matches the necklace that he had given her on the second day of Hanukah.

"Oh Finn they are beautiful; now let's get dressed so we can go get a test to find out if we're going to have a little Hudson for you to spoil." She says softly before placing a gentle kiss on his lips.

Finn feels like he has just heard the most beautiful words that he's ever heard. He stands up off the bed and reaches his hand out to her to help her up. "I like the sound of that, but it won't stop me from spoiling you." He says as he fights the urge to drop down on his knee and ask her to marry her right then. This time is so different. When he found out that Lucy was pregnant, the thought of marriage never crossed his mind. Like he had told Rachel he felt doubt as soon as she had told him. He didn't feel any of that this time; he only feels joy and happiness as he prays that the tests tell him the answer that he is currently wishing for so much.

Finn texts Puck and tells him that he and Rachel has an errand to run before meeting them at the Hudmel's house but promises that they would be there shortly. Then he shoots another text to his mom saying the same thing.

Rachel bought five pregnancy test, you have to be sure right? She and Finn are currently sitting in the bathroom floor waiting for the longest five minutes that either one of them have ever experienced. Once the time is up, Rachel looks at Finn and tells him that she isn't able to look. Finn tells her that he will look, because he is excited to find out the truth; does Rachel not want to have a baby? He wonders. He picks up the first test, careful to not show any facial expressions, then he looks at the other four before turning toward Rachel with the biggest smile on his face.

"Are we having a baby?" Rachel asks her smiling boyfriend.

"All five of them have the same sign on them, and that is a plus sign." He smiles.

"We're having a baby!" Rachel beams up at Finn before she stands up. As soon as she is standing upright, Finn sweeps her up into a hug and just keeps repeating thank you and I love you.

"Finn baby I didn't plan for this to happen, I need you to know that this is just as much as a surprise to me as it is to you. I just don't want you to think that I'm trying to trap you." She tells him, it will kill her, but she has to give him the opportunity to walk away if he wishes.

"Rach that hasn't even crossed my mind, I don't feel like you are trapping me. Yes this is a little bit earlier than I planned, but I already knew that I wanted to have children with you. When I look into my future, you are always standing beside me." He tells her, never taking his eyes off of hers.

"Are you happy? I am happy, like you said a little sooner than I expected but I'm so happy." She replies to her dashing boyfriend with tears in her eyes.

"Absolutely, we're having a baby. How could anyone not be happy about becoming a father? Come on baby, we need to head to mom's before she sends someone out looking for us." He smirks as he places her delicately on her feet.

On the way over to Carole's house they decide to wait to tell their family and friends on Christmas day, Rachel has already called the OB in Lima to schedule an appointment for Monday to confirm what her five tests told them and so she could get started on her prenatal care. Pulling into the driveway Finn looks over at Rachel and asks her if she is going to keep their secret for five whole days. Rachel sticks her tongue out of him before telling him that she is an excellent secret keeper.

"Sure you are babe." He chuckles as he gets out of Burt's SUV and walks around the vehicle to open the mother of his child's door.

She stands on her tiptoes and whispers in his ear, "The true question is, are you going to be able to keep it a secret that you're going to be a daddy?"

"Yep." He replies as he grabs her hand and walks inside the house. He's going to be daddy. He never thought that he would ever feel this happy again.

Carole has breakfast waiting on the couple, telling them that she had to fight Puck and Burt off to save them some of it. After thanking her for saving them some breakfast Rachel starts making her and Finn's plates as he pours them both a glass of orange juice.

"Would you two like for me to brew a fresh pot of coffee for you?" Carole asks the couple as they sit down at the bar to eat their breakfast.

"No thanks mom, not in the mood for coffee this morning." He tells his mom before flashing a quick smile at Rachel. That was another topic that they had discussed on their way over to the house. It was a question that Rachel was going to have to ask the doctor. Finn has pledged that if she couldn't have coffee then he won't drink any either.

"O…Okay, are you feeling alright Finn? All I ever hear is how you aren't able to start your day without drinking at least a pot of coffee." She chuckles.

"We grabbed a cup before we came." He lied to his mom because if he didn't she would just continue questioning them about their reasoning for not drinking coffee. He figures that once they announce their happy news of Christmas day that it will be worth lying to her.

Today is planned as a 'lazy day' with the girls and Kurt upstairs wrapping their gifts and the guys downstairs watching the Browns game on TV. Since some of the gifts that the girls had bought were for the other girls, they each found themselves in different rooms. Rachel is currently sitting on Finn's childhood bed; she notices his trophies in his trophy case with a couple of pictures from their Glee competitions. As she looks around his childhood room she becomes even more excited about the life that is currently growing inside of her. She sings as she wraps and she thinks of the perfect way to tell their family and friends about their special gift. She and Finn are going have to sneak out and go shopping again.

As each of the ladies finishes wrapping their presents, they retreat downstairs to spend time with the guys. Santana is currently driving them all crazy asking about each of the plays. Finn and Puck, who are going crazy since they aren't able to watch the game with Santana's hundred questions, finally Puck speaks up, "Hey Tana, can you find something else to do so we can actually watch the game?"

"Damn Puck, I was just trying to have a conversation. Oh I know what's wrong with you, Quinn has cut you off; hasn't she?" she smirks at the look on Puck's face.

"No she hasn't cut me off, it's that time of the month and I'm sure that you already knew that considering y'all talk about everything." He growls at her.

"We don't tell each other everything, thank you very much; because I feel like Rachel is keeping a secret now." She states honestly.

Finn, who has just taken a drink of soda; gets choked and spews it all over himself and Santana, after he gathers his composer he apologizes to her as he gets up to get her a towel to clean herself off.

Santana decides to follow Finn into the kitchen because judging by his reaction, she knows that Rachel is indeed hiding something and he knows what it is. After the kitchen door closes behind them, Santana decides to cut to the chase, "Are you going to tell me what Rachel is hiding?"

"Oh shit, Tana you scared the hell out of me. Rachel isn't hiding anything from you; I don't know why you think that she is." He tells her as he hands her a towel for her to clean the soda off of her shirt.

"I call bullshit. Remember this giant, I know everything about Rachel and I do know that I haven't had to make a certain run to the store for her since October." She smirks before taking a drink of her own drink.

"You do know that I go to the store for her too, she is living with me at my house. It's just easier for me to run to the store on my way home than asking you to come across town just to bring her tampons." He says matter of factly, he isn't totally lying he did pick her up a box in September and he does stop by the store for things that she needs since it is almost impossible for her to walk into the store without being harassed in Canyon Creek.

"I'm watching you Lurch, I think that something is up between you two." she tells him just as Rachel walks into the kitchen.

"Quit harassing my man, Tana. Why are you giving him your crazy eyes, have you been drinking already?" she laughs.

"No I haven't started drinking yet; tell me what you're hiding from me Rachel and I'll leave your man alone. I know you and I know that you are hiding something. Don't try to deny it." She tells Rachel with her arms crossed.

"Santana I'm not hiding anything from you, you are crazy. We haven't even been in the same room all day so why do you think that I am?" Rachel questions her.

"I can just tell, I could read it on your face when we were in Carole's room grabbing our bags. So help me Frankenteen if you did something to hurt her, I'll go all Brooklyn Heights on you." Santana tells the couple with a flip of her hair.

"Finn would never hurt me Tana, you know that. Now stop harassing him; I believe Brittney is looking for you." She tells the Latina who promptly turns on her heels and walks out of the kitchen.

"Damn baby, they really do know everything about you, don't they?" He chuckles as she buries her head into his chest.

"She means well, I just can't believe that she notices that something is different about me. But her physic vibe must need to be calibrated because there isn't anything wrong with me." She says with a smile looking up at her handsome man.

"As far as I'm concerned everything is perfect." He tells her as he leads her back out to the living room but before he's able to get her out of the door she tells him that everything is better than perfect.

Everyone is sitting in the living room while Carole and Quinn finishes up with dinner; Rachel had tried to help but the smell of the feta cheese turned her stomach so she excused herself telling them that she wasn't feeling well.

Of course, Santana notices that Rachel is pale and not helping with dinner, which is odd considering that Rachel enjoys cooking, "Are you okay diva?" she asks her pint size friend.

"Yeah, I'm good Tana, just tired." She tells her; avoiding eye contact with her because of the fear that somehow Tana would figure out her secret just by looking in her eyes.

After dinner, the guys goes upstairs and carries down all of the presents that the ladies had wrapped and placed them under the tree, when they are finally hauling all of the gifts from upstairs, Puck speaks up, "Dang ladies, do you think that you bought enough gifts?"

"Seriously, I swear that I counted over a hundred presents here." Blaine says as he places the last gift under the tree.

"What's wrong with wanted to buy things for the people we love?" Rachel unintentionally growls.

"Whoa there princess, we were just joking. Y'all ready to get our gifts and put them under the tree?" Puck replies before turning toward the rest of the guys.

"Sure, Mom where are the presents that we gave you the other day to wrap for us?" Finn asks Carole when she walks back into the living room.

"They are all wrapped and upstairs in Burt's office." She tells her son before sitting down beside her husband on the loveseat. "As you all know, Burt and I have to go to Columbus on Monday so he can attend the budget meeting at nine on Tuesday. I'm terribly sorry that we have to leave while you are here, but we will be back on Wednesday. Y'all are welcome to stay here if you want to." She says as she looks straight at Finn.

Santana pipes up, "Why don't you and Rachel stay here Finn? The rest of us will stay at the Lima Inn, since you have paid for our rooms for the whole visit."

"That is part of all of your Christmas. We just wanted to let y'all know how much we appreciate each one of you, but you won't hear me complain about us staying here." Finn tells the Latina; her attitude has totally changed from earlier. "But I don't think Rach and I can fit in my old bed." He adds with a shrug.

"Oh Finn honey, Burt and I bought both of you King size beds to put in your bedrooms so when you come visit you won't have to stay at one of the hotels. They will be here on Monday morning." Carole tells Finn.

"We could have bought our own beds mom." Kurt tells her as he gives her a hug, "but thank you."

"We just decided that if you two came home neither one of you would be coming alone anymore so we bought you two big boy beds." Burt adds with a chuckle as he accepts a hug from Finn.

"Dang straight I won't be coming home alone." Finn says with a smile to Rachel, little does his family know that he wouldn't just be bringing one person with him next time he comes home but two.

* * *

><p>December 22nd<p>

After a relaxing Sunday with Carole and Burt while Puck and Quinn went to visit Puck's family and Brittney and Santana were still over at Mitzy's house. So the family had enjoyed a wonderful day catching up after Finn had given Rachel her Hanukah gift, a Black Louboutin Bastille PM bag, joking that hopefully he'd be buying her a designer diaper bag to go with it. They both are currently getting ready to go to the doctor to confirm whether Rachel is pregnant or not. Finn walks into the bathroom where she's applying her makeup with her sixth Hanukah gift behind his back. "Hey baby, I want you to open this before we go. I hope you like it."

She reaches for the box and gently pulls the bow off of it before lifting the lid. "Finn is this from his spring collection?" she asks as she pulls the mango colored Kurt Hummel Original baby doll dress out of the box.

"It is; it's a perk being the brother of the designer; this design won't be in stores until April. And look at the name of this design." He tells her as he bends down so she can kiss him.

"Barbra Berry, I can't believe he named this after me." She gushes as she holds the beautiful dress up to her before she frowns, "but I probably won't be able to wear it much."

"If you outgrow it, I'll just buy you another one. As you are aware, this is the second one that he has named after you; his Rachel dress was named after his favorite Broadway diva. He had designed that collection before you moved out to LA. He also named one of this collection Quinn and another one is named Santana." He shrugs.

"Oh my, the perks of dating the brother of Kurt Hummel." She giggles.

With a smile he asks her if she's ready to go and find out if there is going to be another person who can influence a name for one of Kurt's designs. She smiles up at him and just nods her head in agreement.

They are in the waiting area of the OB/GYN office, Rachel is filling out all of the paperwork and for some reason when Finn sees her name, his stomach turns because he doesn't want her last name to be Berry when their child is born. Reminding himself that in just two days he would be asking her to be his wife, he finds himself excited to find out if they are going to be parents once again. Right after Rachel turns her paperwork in the nurse comes out and calls her name. After the nurse weighs Rachel's and asks her a few questions they find themselves in a small room. Rachel dressed in a paper gown and sitting on the table while Finn sits on the chair beside the bed. Dr. Allman, the doctor that had delivered Finn; walks into the room and introduces himself to the young couple.

"Congratulations, your urine sample confirms that you are indeed pregnant now I'd like to take a look and see if I'm able to see how the baby's doing and how far along that you are." He says as he asks her to lie back on the table.

Finn can't quit smiling; he's going to be a daddy. After the doctor does a quick exam, he tells her that everything seems good. He asks her to pull her gown up over her stomach so he can get an ultrasound as he hands her a paper blanket to cover herself up with. The doctor calls the ultrasound tech into the room. She introduces herself and tells Rachel that the gel will be a little cold before she puts it on her stomach. As she moves the probe around and measures the size of the baby, with a smile she turns the monitor so Rachel and Finn can see their precious miracle. "See this little dot right here?" she asks the couple, "That's your baby and by the size of him or her you are about ten weeks along. Looks like you're going to have a June baby. We should be able to hear the heartbeat." She tells the couple before turning the volume up as loud as it can go before putting the probe back on Rachel's stomach.

Thump, thump, thump. There it is; the rapid sound of their child's heartbeat. Rachel's and Finn's eyes both fill with tears as they both listen to the amazing sound. The ultrasound tech tells the couple congratulations once again before telling them that they would get everything together for her to take to her doctor in LA and a prescription of prenatal vitamins. Rachel has just gotten dressed when the nurse brings in her prescription and a manila envelope full of pictures and vital signs from her visit. The nurse explains to Rachel to take the vitamins everyday and that she is free to go. Rachel literally feels like she's floating out of the doctor's office. This is the greatest news she's ever received in her life. This is better news then winning her first Tony or when her album went gold. Hand in hand the new expecting parents walk down the street, passing a small children's store. Rachel had told Finn her idea about how they would tell their family that they are expecting, he thinks it's a great idea so he escorts her inside the small store in pursuit of finding the perfect gifts for their family.

After they exited the toy store with an armful of bags, they head to the next jewelry store to buy the perfect gift to give the new grandma. The couple waits while the charms and spacers are added to the charm bracelet; they had chosen several charms representing Carole's family with the last charm added being a tiny shoe with an alexandrite birthstone deciding to add a boy spacer on one side of it and a girl spacer on the other.

* * *

><p>December 23rd<p>

Finn is woken up by Rachel gently running her fingernails down his chest and abdomen as she places tender kisses down the burning trail that her touch is causing.

Finn gives her an appreciative moan as he starts to wake from his slumber, "Good morning, sweetheart." He huskily tells her as he gentle rubs her back.

"How did you sleep last night baby?" Rachel asks him before placing a gentle kiss on his lips.

"I wonder if we can sneak this mattress on the airplane?" he jokes as he pulls her up so he is face to face with his beautiful woman.

"I don't think that I want a king size bed at home; it's too big, you would be too far away from me." She pouts, "But maybe we could get this brand of mattress in a queen."

"Yeah but we need to find the perfect house for us to raise our baby in first. Sam seems to think that the couple that toured your house over the weekend is really considering putting in an offer." He tells her as he unconsciously starts rubbing her still flat stomach.

"Good, I will accept the exact amount that I paid for it; I just want to get out of that subdivision. It is bad enough that they hide in bushes to snap pictures of us but I don't want to worry about them stalking our child." Rachel tells Finn before rolling off of him attempting to get out of bed.

Finn gently grabs her arm and playfully asks her, "Where do you think you're going?"

"Well I expect the others to be here soon to eat and I want to get their special gifts wrapped and under the tree before they get here." She tells him as she reaches for her bathrobe.

"Wait, I have to give you your Hanukah gift for today first, then I'll help you wrap their gifts." He tells her while he retrieves her seventh gift out of the bedside table drawer and hands it to her with a kiss.

She opens the envelope with a gasp; inside she finds two first class tickets to the Hawaiian Islands. "Oh, Finn I've never been to Hawaii before, this is such a thoughtful gift." She appears to be deep in thought, tapping her finger to her chin; "but who would I take with me?" she giggles at the pout of Finn's face.

"You can take whoever you want, and look there isn't an expiration date; so you can go whenever you want." He tells her; seriously who else would she want to take with her on a romantic getaway but him.

Seeing the hurt and misery on his face, Rachel finally tells Finn that this would be a wonderful vacation for them after the baby is born. Just as any other time the baby is mentioned Finn can't help but to smile, he leans into the beautiful brunette before thanking her for giving him the gift that only she could give him.

"Our baby is our gift to each other; I couldn't have conceived him or her without you. I am honored to say that I am carrying your baby." She tells him with another kiss before standing up and telling him to come on so they can get the gifts under the tree before the rest of the crew arrives.

Rachel is in the kitchen (unsuccessfully) attempting to fix breakfast before their friends arrive. Finn catches her running toward the guest bathroom out of the corner of his eye, knowing that the scent of the food is making her nauseous, walks into the kitchen to finish their breakfast.

Rachel, pale a ghost walks back into the kitchen and tells Finn that she would finish it up. "No babe, just sit down and relax before the mania starts. I know how to cook, ya know?" He smirks while he flips the pancakes in the pan before sliding them onto the plate.

Before she has a chance to answer, the kitchen door busts open by Kurt, who is standing there with his hands over his eyes, "Are you too decent?" he snickers.

"Yes Kurt, I haven't cooked in the nude since college." Finn deadpans in the direction of Kurt.

"Great…Okay guys the coast is clear." Kurt hollers over his shoulder to the others.

Santana is the first to burst through the door, she notices how pale Rachel is immediately; she walks over to her and places her arm on Rachel's forehead. "Berry, are you okay? You look like shit, but you're not running a fever."

"Yes Tana, I'm fine; I'm just a little tired." Rachel tells her as she brushes Santana's arm away from her head.

"Do you still want to go shopping today; you said that you still needed to buy a couple more things." Santana asks as she hands Quinn a plate.

"Sure do, I just need to take a quick shower after breakfast, and then we can go." Rachel answers the Latina, "I promise you Tana that I am fine."

After breakfast, the guys tells the girls to go ahead and get ready to go, they will clean the kitchen up. Kurt walks out with the girls and turns to Rachel, "Rachel can I pick out your outfit today?"

"Kurt I just want to wear something comfortable and no heels. I'm just going shopping not to a red carpet event." Rachel tells the designer.

"Rachel Barbra Berry, you are a star and should always dress like one, I don't care if you are just taking the trash out, you must always look your best." He sasses.

Finn hears the commotion and walks out of the kitchen door at the end of Kurt's rant, "Whoa dude, she always looks like a star. Let her wear whatever she wants. She hasn't been feeling that great for the last couple of days." Finn growls at his brother.

With his hands held up in surrender, he tells them fine and apologizes to Rachel before she heads up the stairs to grab a shower. Kurt walks into the living room and sits down next to Santana to wait on Rachel to get ready. "Something is totally up with those two." He whispers to Santana.

"I know, I have told you guys that for the last couple of days. Where have you been porcelain?" Santana sneers at the petite man.

Once Rachel is ready to go, they all kiss their men goodbye with the promise that they wouldn't be gone too long. All of the girls piles into Burt's SUV with Kurt behind the wheel. Quinn thinks this is the best time to confront Rachel since she wouldn't dare jump out of a moving vehicle. "Rachel, what's going on with you? You have been unusually tired and you never get sick. We are all worried about you."

"I wish you guys would quit worrying about me, I promise that I am not sick! Why won't you guys believe me?" she huffs.

"Because your words and your actions tell two different stories." Kurt answers.

"I'm fine, can we please drop this; I wanna get my shop on!" she answers with a beaming smile hoping to convince her friends that she's okay.

After three hours of shopping, the shopping crew finds themselves back in the driveway of the Hudmel home and greeted by the guys, who came out to offer with carrying in their purchases. "Did you all have a good time?" Puck asks as he grabs a bunch of the bags out of the back of the SUV.

"We had a lovely girls' day, and finally all of the Christmas shopping is done." Kurt tells Puck as he grabs some of the purchases.

"Good thing since Christmas Eve is tomorrow." Puck tells Kurt as he starts walking up the sidewalk toward the house.

"We're going have to hire a private plane just to get all of this back to LA." Finn adds while he helps Rachel out of the backseat.

Once all of the bags are brought into the house, Finn suggests that they just order take out so the kitchen can stay clean for the next day. After about thirty minutes, they all decide to order pizza and salad for dinner.

After their meal, everyone decides to head back to the hotel room after telling Finn and Rachel that they would all return in the morning. Finn locks the door behind their friends and turns to walk back into the living room, only to find it empty. Then he calls for Rachel and he hears a small "up here" from their bedroom. He walks up the stairs and his senses are attacked by vanilla. "Babe, are you in her…"he is stopped midsentence by the sight standing in front of him. Standing in front of him is his goddess dressed in a red Santa inspired teddy complete with a Santa hat on top of her flowing hair. "Well hello there little boy, have you been a good boy this year?" Rachel sexily asks him as she slowly makes her way to him.

"Yes ma'am, I've been a real good boy this year. I think that I deserve an awesome present this year." He whispers as he takes her into his arms.

"I plan on giving you a Christmas present that you will never forget." She tells him as she grabs a hold of his shirt and pulls him toward the bed.

Feeling so much love for his beautiful woman, he moves slowly as he gently starts removing her clothes. "God Rachel, you are so beautiful. I love you so much." He tells her between peppering her body with tender kisses. He reaches her stomach and leans in and whispers to his unborn child, "And you, I can't wait to meet you. Daddy loves you so much."

With tears in her eyes, Rachel reaches down and pulls Finn's lips to hers. "I want to make love to you, I need to feel you inside of me." She whispers as she reaches for his tee shirt and pulls it over his head.

"I want you so bad baby, but are you sure? I don't want to hurt you." He whispers as he slides his pants off.

"You aren't going to hurt me or the baby. I want you more than anything right now. I've thought about making love to you since I bought this earlier today." She tells him as she reaches for his stiff erection and guides him into her. He gently pushes in and pulls out slowly as he whispers his love to her.

She feels that oh so strong urge building up in her core, she needs him to go faster; she wraps her legs around his torso and pulls him into her as she arches her back. "I'm almost there baby, go faster." She demands. With this statement, Finn speeds up his thrust as he continues to kiss and nip at her neck. He feels her tightening up around him and he knows that she's so close, he reaches down between their bodies and finds her bundle and starts rubbing her nub as he continues to pump into her body until he feels her release around him, as always as soon as she is satisfied he too releases his pleasure into her. Without words they cuddle into each others body and drifts off to sleep.

* * *

><p>December 24th-Christmas Eve and the Last day of Hanukah<p>

Finn rolls over to take Rachel into his arms; he whispers in her ear that he has a surprise for her today. He tells her that he clothes are laid out in the bathroom for her to wear after they have breakfast.

He shoots a quick text to Puck telling him that he is going to take Rachel out for a while but they are more than welcome to come over to eat breakfast. After a crude "Get you some" from Puck; Finn places his phone on the bedside table and heads downstairs to fix their breakfast.

"Finn, this dress is beautiful, where are we going?" she questions, "I feel like I should be walking a runway right now."

"It's a surprise, and for the record no matter what you are wearing you could walk the runway." He tells her before kissing her and placing her plate on the table for her.

"You are just full of surprises aren't you?" she giggles before she gets serious, "When will your parents be back tonight?"

"Mom just text me and said that dad has another meeting this morning but regardless of when it was over they are coming home to be with us for Christmas." He tells her as he sits down beside her at the table.

After they cleaned the kitchen back up; Finn showers and gets dressed while Rachel waits in the living room. Finn comes downstairs and Rachel has to remind herself to breathe, standing in front of her in a black suit with a red silk shirt on under the jacket that matches the color of her dress. "WOW babe, you look amazing, are you sure that we can't just go back up the stairs." She smirks before placing a scorching kiss on his lips.

"Nope, we can do that later; now come on time's a ticking." He tells her as he links his arm through hers. He opens her car door and helps her up into the SUV before walking around the front to get in the driver's seat. "Trust me?" he questions her.

"Of course, why wouldn't I trust you?" she asks, wondering what he has up his sleeve.

"Good, than put this on." He tells her as he hands her a white blindfold.

"Are you crazy? I have no idea where anything is around here, silly." She tells him before grabbing the blindfold out of his hand and placing it on her lap.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. You don't need to wear it." He tells her as he pulls out of the driveway and heads to the undisclosed location. Finn can't remember a time in his life when he's ever been this nervous; he had decided that he wanted it to be only him and Rachel there when he asks her to marry him. He hears a tiny gasp from Rachel as he parks the car at the edge of the only lake in town.

"Finn, this place is beautiful." She tells him when he opens her door and gives her hand to help her get out of the vehicle.

"This used to be my favorite summer hangout when I was a kid and teenager." He tells her as he escorts her to the gazebo in the middle of the park. "I wish it was warmer here today, because ever since I was a little boy I always dreamed of doing this here." He tells her when he stops in the middle of the gazebo.

"Do what?" she questions.

"Rachel you know how much I love you, right? I have been carrying this around for two months; I was going to wait until Christmas to do this, but then I decided that this would be the perfect Hanukah gift." He tells her as he wipes the tears off Rachel's face. He pulls the tiny black box out of his pocket before dropping down to one of his knees. "Rachel, you are the love of my life and I can't ever imagine my life without you. I know that this may seem soon to some; but will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"

Rachel is left speechless; she really hadn't expected him to propose to her. (Wait, did he say that he had bought the ring months ago? That means that it has nothing to do with the baby. He really wants to marry me.) She looks down at him with the sad look on his face; she realizes that she still needs to answer him. Flashing him her brightest smile, she nods her head and tells him yes. "I would be honored to become your wife." She tells him as he slides the gorgeous three carat emerald cut diamonds with stars engraved in the band.

"I love you more than my own life, I can't wait to make you my wife." He whispers as he stands back up and kisses her.

Rachel decides that she wants to get married before the baby is born, but also before she looks like a blimp floating down the aisle, "How quick do you think that Kurt could design my wedding dress?" she beams at her fiancé.

"Well, I'm sure that he could fit it in. He would be the talk of the designer world because he gets to design the Rachel Berry's wedding dress." Finn chuckles as he takes her by the arm to escort her back to the vehicle. (We don't need for her to get sick now do we?)

They discuss in the car on the way back to Carole's house that they did want to get married before the baby is born, and Rachel made it very clear to Finn that she would not walk down the aisle when she's seven or eight months pregnant; the duo decides to try and set a date for Valentine's Day. Rachel has only one request, that they get married in Lima. Secretly Finn is ecstatic that she wants to get married in his hometown, promises her that he would marry her on the moon if that was what she wanted. When they pull into the driveway, they notice that Burt and Carole are back home and that all of their friends were there also. They decide not to tell anyone that they were engaged, they want to see how long it takes anyone to notice her ring.

"Hey guys!" Rachel chirps as Finn helps her take off her coat. "How was your trip Burt and Carole?"

"Oh honey, you look beautiful; where have you two been?" Carole asks as she hugs Rachel. It doesn't take Puck long to notice the sparkle on Rachel's left hand. "Whoa, does anyone have a pair of shades I can borrow. It just got way brighter in here." Puck laughs as he pretends to cover his eyes from the shine off of Rachel's ring.

"What are you talking about Puck?" Carole asks as she releases Rachel from her embrace but still holding her by her shoulders.

"Look at that rock on Rachel's hand, momma Carole." Puck smirks up at Finn who is currently smiling from ear to ear.

Carole reaches for Rachel's left hand and the others gather around. "Oh my God, Rachel that is one beautiful ring." She then looks over at Finn and says, "You did well son, I guess you didn't need my help after all."

"Wait, what, you knew that he was going to propose to her and didn't tell me?" Kurt huffs.

"Well yeah, we didn't want Rachel to find out, so we elected not to tell you." Carole tells her pouting son.

"Look on the bright side Kurt, guess who she wants to design her gown and her bridesmaids' dresses." Finn smirks.

"That sentence better end up with Kurt Hummel." Kurt huffs.

"Of course Kurt, there is absolutely no one else who I want to design my gown. I mean you are going to be my brother in law." Rachel tells the calming designer.

"Why do I sense a 'but' coming my way?" Kurt asks as he looks between Rachel and Finn.

"We want to get married on Valentine's Day here at mom and dad's house. Do you think that you can pull that off or do I need to find another designer?" Finn smirks because he knows that there is no way in hell Kurt will allow anyone else to design Rachel's gown.

"I can get it done, don't you worry about that my dear brother. A Kurt Hummel planned wedding will be the wedding of the century, even if it is happening in Lima Ohio." He smirks.

"Okay, we will start discussing wedding details after Christmas. Carole we didn't even ask you if it will be okay to have our wedding here." Rachel tells her future mother in law.

"You don't need to ask us if you can get married here, this is Finn's home and since you are marrying our son; this is your home too." Burt tells the petite actress with a hug.

"Thanks, dad; Rachel really wants to get married here." Finn tells Burt before heading to the kitchen to fix him and Rachel some hot chocolate.

The group sits around the fireplace telling stories of their favorite Christmas memories way up into the morning. Around two in the morning; Puck, Quinn, Santana and Brittney heads to the hotel as Finn, Rachel, Blaine and Kurt gets ready for bed at their parents house as promised.

* * *

><p>December 25th—Christmas Day<p>

As promised, the group from the Inn is back at the house at seven o'clock in the morning so they all could enjoy a Christmas morning feast before they started opening gifts. They decided that they would all meet at the Hudmel house early than Brittney and Santana can go to Mitzy's house and Puck and Quinn could go spend the day with Puck's mom and Sarah. (Yeah, they are Jewish and Hanukah is over but he decided that it would be a good day for Quinn to spend time with his family.)

They find themselves sitting in front of the Christmas tree as Carole hands out the gifts to each of the 'children'. After about two hours of exchanging gifts, the only gifts left are the special gifts that Finn and Rachel had bought for everyone. Finn stands up and tells his mom to have a seat as he starts handing out their gifts telling them all to wait until everyone has theirs before opening them. After everyone has their present in their hands Rachel stands up next to Finn and tells them all to open their gifts. The room becomes full of "ooooos and ahhhhs". It's Santana who stands up first as holds out the silver picture from that is engraved 'Auntie Tana" that holds a copy of Rachel's ultrasound, "You're having a baby?" she asks as happy tears streams down her face. With a nod from Rachel the couple finds themselves surrounded by all of their friends. "So that's why you asked her to marry you and why you want to get married so soon." Puck smirks at Finn.

Finn looks at Rachel and can tell that she wonders the same thing. "No Puck, we didn't find out until Monday that we were having a baby. Ask mom when I bought Rachel's ring. As far as wanting to get married so soon, yes it is because of the baby. Rachel wants to get married before she gets too big and I want her to have my last name when she gives birth to my child." Finn growls.

"I'm so happy for both of you, not only am I gaining a daughter but a grandbaby also!" Carole squeals as she inspects the charms on her bracelet. "This is such a precious gift, so I guess by the birthstone on this charm, our bundle of joy will be here in June."

"My due date is around Mother's day, we will know more once I get to the OB in LA and they run all of the needed test. But, Dr. Allman assures us that the baby is doing great." Rachel tells the still beaming grandma to be.

"I want you to let me know when you have your appointments, please." Carole insists.

"Why mom, it's not like you can fly out to LA just to go to the doctor with us." Finn tells his overjoyed mom.

"Watch me, and I plan on coming out to help move you once you find another home for your little family." She sternly tells her stubborn son.

"Okay, Fine." Finn grumbles before adding, "I got a call from Sam this morning and an offer has been placed on Rachel's house. He will draw up the paperwork tomorrow and they should be ready for Rachel to sign when we get back to LA; then we will start looking for another home to move into after the wedding." Finn tells the room before kissing Rachel on the forehead.

* * *

><p><strong>Okay, I finally got Christmas done just in time for New Year's Day. Next chapter will be the moving process and planning of their wedding. I hope it doesn't take me another two weeks to update. Anyway please read and review. Here's to an awesome 2015<strong>


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